MacKenzie Scott Gifts $133.5 Million to Educational Nonprofit

MacKenzie Scott has once again donated millions to a good cause.

The education nonprofit Communities in Schools revealed on Twitter that Scott had given them $133.5 million. “This investment will help CIS to carry out its mission to break down the systemic barriers that stand in the way of opportunity & student success,” CIS wrote.

It’s the largest unrestricted donation the organization has ever received, according to a statement from CIS. With the funds, the nonprofit can help further support students who were affected by COVID-19, and programs in Washington state, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Atlanta.

CIS’ staff work at schools to assist students with issues both in their lives and in school, making sure that they have access to resources like food, housing, healthcare, counseling, and more.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because you think about all of the work that you can do,” Rey Saldaña, the president and CEO of Communities in Schools, told CBS News. “What this allows us to do is really bring community support inside our schools to empower students to not just graduate from school but achieve in life.”

The program currently serves 2,900 schools in the U.S., with a total of 1.6 million students in 26 states. According to The Washington Post, the national office was allotted $20 million of Scott’s donation. Forty individual sites then got grants of $2.5 to $3 million.

“To think about, we have this twinkle in our eye about growing into every Title 1 school. We are in 3,000 schools today, this helps us drive and because so much pressure has come down because of the pandemic, we can now bring more staff into the schools that we’re in already. This is amazing,” Saldaña said.