Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is giving $30 million to a Bay Area nonprofit organization that helps develop affordable housing.
Housing Trust Silicon Valley said the donation came from Scott’s Yield Giving philanthropic fund, which has provided more than $17 billion to various causes since 2020. Of that amount, $1.7 billion has gone to housing-related charities, according to the fund’s website.
The housing trust has invested $615 million in housing development in the 14-county Bay Area since 2000, helping 51,000 people find homes, according to the group’s website. The trust is a community development financial institution, lending money with a dual mission of economic gains and supporting the well-being of its local residents and institutions.
“This donation, the largest from an individual in our history, comes as an incredible surprise,” Noni Ramos, the trust’s chief executive officer, said in a statement with board chair Joe Anzalone.
"It’s a pivotal time for the group to receive such a large gift," Ramos and Anzalone said, as “our communities have never needed us more.” In 2021, there were 66 cities in the San Francisco region with a median home sale price of more than $1 million, according to a Bay Area regional planning organization.
Possible uses for Scott’s donation include seeding a capital campaign for the trust’s loan fund, expanding existing programs and launching new ones, the group said.
The trust recently provided a $2 million loan to develop 90 affordable housing units designed for families at the Meridian Apartments in Sunnyvale, California. Sunnyvale is one of the Bay Area’s most expensive cities. In San Rafael, just north of San Francisco, the trust supported building the Vivalon multifamily complex, which comprises 66 units with supportive services for older adults.
Scott said in a 2022 essay on the Yield Giving website that the fund focuses on helping organizations that support “the ability of all people to participate in solutions. This means a focus on the needs of those whose voices have been underrepresented. It also means including others within the system who want to help improve it, harnessing insights and engagement from every role.”
Scott's 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos left her with a 4% stake in the e-commerce company, according to Forbes. Scott pledged in 2019 to donate the majority of her wealth to charity, either during her lifetime or in a will.