(Our Bureau, June 19) ACT Grants, The/Nudge Foundation and at least 11 more Indian non-profits have received substantial donations from American philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. This is probably the single largest grant made in a single year by a donor to Indian NGOs outside of their own foundations, Amit Chandra, a private equity investor and philanthropist, told Bloomberg Quint.
$2.7 billion giveaway program
It’s a part of Scott’s global giveaway initiative of $2.7 billion to a variety of charities. The 51-year-old is worth an estimated $60 billion after her divorce with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos left her with a 4% stake in the e-commerce behemoth. Writing in a blog post earlier this week, Scott said:
“We are governed by a humbling belief that it would be better if disproportionate wealth were not concentrated in a small number of hands, and that the solutions are best designed and implemented by others.”
Indian recipients
Scott, her husband Dan Jewett and their team run through a rigorous process of research and impact evaluation before releasing the gifts. The Indian spread represents a mix of primarily grassroot organizations across diverse causes ranging from Covid-19 management and rural education to affordable healthcare and poverty alleviation. Here are the recipients.
- ACT Grants (Covid-19)
- Digital Green (farmer-focused)
- Dream a Dream (education)
- GiveIndia (online fundraising)
- GOONJ (disaster relief and humanitarian aid)
- Jan Sahas (anti-forced labous)
- Magic Bus (life skills)
- Mann Deshi Foundation (rural women)
- Piramal Swasthya (affordable healthcare)
- Professional Assistance for Development Action (rural communities)
- Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action (urban women)
- The Antara Foundation (child health)
- The/Nudge Foundation (poverty alleviation)
- The pandemic exposed the public health faultlines in the country drawing the attention of the global philanthropic ecosystem to India’s developmental needs, said Atul Satija, chief executive of GiveIndia and founder of The/Nudge Foundation told Bloomberg Quint. He said it took just 2 weeks for the money to come in the bank versus the 3-6 months such grants usually take.
- See Scott’s tweet where she exhorts people to celebrate the recipients of her grant
- ALSO READ: MacKenzie Scott’s blogpost announcing the global donations
- RELATED READ: Indian American NGO to build 100 oxygen plants in India
I am the 3rd man who will marry Mackenzie, God willing