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Hawaii nonprofits got a chunk of the $4.2 billion that billionaire MacKenzie Scott announced she would give away in four months.
The Hawaii Community Foundation received $10 million for its Hawai‘i Resilience Fund, which is said was the largest contribution to its COVID-19 relief effort, to date.
“With the ongoing human and economic impacts caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the trust and selection of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation by MacKenzie Scott is an incredible gift to our state at the end of a very trying year,” said HCF CEO and President Micah Kane in a news release. “Her thoughtful, data-driven approach to giving is a testament to our work and our nonprofit partners relieving the hardships for those hardest hit by this crisis.”
HCF is one of 384 organizations across the nation selected to receive gifts, according to Scott’s Dec. 15 Medium blog post.
Other Hawaii organizations that she donated to include Goodwill Hawaii, YWCA Oahu, and Meals on Wheels Hawaii
In “384 Ways to Help,” Scott said her team of advisors considered 6,490 organizations, researched 822 before selecting the final 384.
Some are fulfilling basic needs, such as food banks, emergency relief funds, and support services for those most vulnerable while others are “addressing long-term systemic inequities that have been deepened by the crisis.”
Three additional Hawaii nonprofits she selected include Goodwill Hawaii, YWCA Oahu and Meals on Wheels Hawaii.
As the pandemic crisis continues, HCF said the state’s food insecurity rate continues to rise and more residents who have never experienced hardships are finding themselves in need of support.
“While Hawaii has worked together to contain the virus, the slow return of our economy will continue to pose huge challenges for our state at least through the third quarter of 2021,” said Kane.
With Scott’s gift, the Hawai‘i Resilience Fund at HCF — which was established with $2 million in mid-March – has now accepted over $22 million from over 630 donors to address the human and economic impact of COVID-19 in Hawaii. The Fund has continued to grow to help its list of grantees.
Scott, listed by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as the world’s 18th-richest person, was formerly married to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
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