Author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announced last year that she made an unrestricted transformational gift to Easterseals National Office, to support life-changing services and powerful advocacy for the one in four Americans living with a disability.
Along with Easterseals National Office, 384 other nonprofits were also gifted across the country, totaling more than $4.1 billion. Easterseals National Office in turn offered the chance of a matching grant to its affiliates, and in August of 2021, Easterseals Wisconsin received $30,000 from Scott’s philanthropic efforts.
For 95 years, Easterseals Wisconsin has provided services that help children and adults with disabilities gain greater independence. The organization’s services include the Farm Program, which helps farmers return to farming after a disabling accident or illness. All of Easterseals Wisconsin’s services benefit close to 10,000 individuals with disabilities and their families each year statewide.
Scott says beneficiaries have been selected for their leadership’s track record of effective management and significant impact to their areas of expertise. She asked a team of nonprofit advisers to help her identify organizations that have directly helped marginalized groups.
“I began work to complete my pledge with the belief that my life had yielded two assets that could be of particular value to others: the money these systems helped deliver to me, and a conviction that people who have experience with inequities are the ones best equipped to design solutions,” she says. “The work of giving away more than half of my fortune will last for years.”
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