March 22, 2023

Yield Giving, McKenzie Scott’s philanthropic organization, is now accepting applications for $1 million grants. This funding opportunity is for “community-led, community-focused organizations whose explicit purpose is to advance the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means, and groups who have met with discrimination and other systemic obstacles.”

Any nonprofit in the United States that has had a $1 – $5 million operating budget for two of the last four fiscal years is eligible to apply. 250 nonprofits will be selected to receive one of the $1 million unrestricted awards, totaling to $250 million in grant donations from Ms. Scott. Interested nonprofits must register for the open call by March 5, 2023 and submit their full application by June 12, 2023. The 250 chosen nonprofits will be announced in 2024.

Yield Giving is partnering with Lever for Change to implement a three step review process to select awardees. The first step will check nonprofits’ eligibility, while the second and third step will review and score organizations. In the second step, fellow applicants will score applications with a rubric. The scoring rubric considers a nonprofit’s commitment to equity, proven record, community representation within the organization, and organizational capacity. The top 1000 applications that make it to the third step will be considered by a 158 person evaluation panel of nonprofit leaders. McKenzie Scott’s team will then make final decisions about the awardees.

Scholz Nonprofits Law LLC has many clients who would be a great fit for this open call, and we encourage all eligible nonprofits to apply to this great opportunity.

If you have any questions, Scholz Nonprofit Law is here for you. Please let us know how we can help by emailing Melissa, Jeff, Jessica, or Sarah.