MacKenzie Scott Gave Us $60 Million. We’re Giving It Away.
How the Freedom Fund, which has now received two unrestricted gifts from the billionaire philanthropist, is spending its windfall.
By Nick Grono
Contributor
January 20, 2026 | Read Time: 5 minutes
“MacKenzie Scott wants to make a meaningful gift to your organization.” As a nonprofit leader, there are few more joyful words to hear than these. I’ve been fortunate enough to be told this twice now, and the second time was even more unexpected than the first.
In October, I received an email out of the blue from one of Scott’s colleagues at Yield Giving requesting a brief call. When we jumped on the phone a few hours later, I was told those magic words for the second time in four years — and learned she would be giving us another $60 million.
I never imagined that lightning would strike twice for the Freedom Fund, a global collaborative fund that supports frontline groups working to end modern slavery and human trafficking. She initially gave us $35 million in 2021, and the most I had hoped for this time around was a smaller phase-out grant. I was stunned and delighted to be proven wrong.
Now I’d like to pull back the curtain on why my organization thinks we were chosen — and what we plan to do with this windfall.
What Put Us on MacKenzie Scott’s Radar?
As friends and supporters offered congratulations, they also routinely asked what the Freedom Fund had done to warrant Scott’s largess. I couldn’t offer a definitive answer because the stories are true: Scott’s team does not give feedback on their process.
However, by tracking other organizations she has given to, I see that we share an emphasis on prioritizing frontline community leaders.
Scott has also funded a number of collaborative funds, or organizations that pool money from multiple donors and redistribute it to smaller, community-based groups. (While we don’t have exact numbers, out of the 2,711 grantees listed on the Yield Giving site, more than 400 identify as re-grantors or funds.) At the Freedom Fund, we support and fund 190 partner organizations around the world.
Deep involvement in the cause also seems important to Scott and her Yield Giving advisers. At the Freedom Fund, we have published more than 130 research reports and hosted regular meetings of our partners. I’ve also shared lessons I’ve learned as a leader of the fund through podcast appearances and a book on nonprofit leadership.
Though I had no direct contact with Scott or her advisers in the lead-up to this second gift, I’ve often spoken publicly about the ripple effects of her trust-based giving. When the United States froze foreign aid in early 2025 — including a sizable portion of our funding — we were able to keep supporting our grantees, thanks to what remained of her 2021 gift. This decision kept many of our partners afloat during a time when all their other funding had been cut.
Our Plans for This Windfall
Our second gift came amid massive global disruption in government funding, and we felt a moral imperative to use it well. Here’s how we’re thinking about it:
We’re moving Scott’s money to the front lines and putting it into the hands of the leaders who are often overlooked by philanthropy. We believe this is the response that best honors Scott’s generosity.
We were already clear on our mission. The year before, we had consulted our staff, board, and grantees to refresh our strategy and values. The outcome of this process was adaptable enough to continue serving as our north star in the event of the unexpected — good or bad. Within six weeks of receiving this second transformative gift, we had already reached a consensus on how to deploy the funds.
We will spend rather than save the gift. Because driving change now matters more than saving for our future, with our board, we quickly decided not to build an endowment. Modern slavery demands urgent action, and funds like ours exist to move money rapidly to the front lines — not to bank it for perpetuity.
We will prioritize our support for partners. Our recent strategy refresh clarified that the Freedom Fund is, at the core, a funder. We raise and move significant money to small organizations, seeding movements from Bangladesh to Brazil. To do this well, we realized that we should minimize the money and time that we spend on direct advocacy and implementation and push money to grantees to let them set the agenda. While we’ve always focused on building trust with partners and prioritizing their autonomy, Scott’s approach to giving has inspired us to go even further.
We will deliver on our strategic plan and get comfortable with sounding boring. It is tempting to respond to a large gift by announcing a dramatic new initiative, but sometimes the most exciting thing you can do is stay the course. As a collaborative fund, our ultimate commitment is to our frontline partners. When announcing our plans with the gift, we leaned into providing partners with a sense of stability through consistent and multiyear funding. What we’re doing is more of what we already intended: more flexible support to frontline and survivor-led organizations, more money out the door, more communities reached.
We will explain to other donors why their support is still needed. Some funders have asked if it still matters to us whether they give. Being able to articulate clear plans has helped preserve our own revenue streams: We’ll spend down the $60 million over nine years, balancing speed with long-term commitments. We’re planning to open new programs in Uganda and two more locations before 2030. We support systems change and make flexible grants to survivor-led organizations. Every additional dollar helps address the still-massive reality of 50 million people in modern slavery.
We’re moving Scott’s money to the front lines and putting it into the hands of the leaders who are often overlooked by philanthropy. We believe this is the response that best honors Scott’s generosity.
