Maine health care nonprofit receives $9 million windfall from billionaire MacKenzie Scott

Nov. 21—The Maine Well being Entry Basis, an Augusta nonprofit, does not attempt to drum up cash from the general public — not to mention superstar philanthropists.

So on a latest afternoon, when President and CEO Barbara Leonard acquired a name saying the group would obtain $9 million from MacKenzie Scott, the information was an out-of-the-blue, welcome, shock.

“I used to be astounded and brought aback, after which so extremely happy for Maine,” Leonard stated Friday. “That made for an excellent day on the workplace.”

MeHAF, which says it’s the state’s largest personal nonprofit well being care basis, works to enhance entry to well being look after Maine individuals, significantly those that are uninsured or who reside in underserved elements of the state. However the work is commonly behind the scenes, offering grants and help to assist strengthen organizations helping Mainers in native communities.

Scott, an creator who was once married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has pledged to provide away many of the fortune she obtained when the couple divorced three years in the past. Her present web value of $22.1 billion ranks Scott No. 61 among the many world’s richest individuals, in line with the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Scott’s newest spherical of presents, introduced final week, totaled $2 billion and went to 343 nonprofits addressing social and financial wants. So far, she has donated greater than $14 billion.

Leonard stated the inspiration did not understand it was into consideration for a present till it acquired the decision and an e mail. Employees will begin determining what to do with the cash in January, she defined, when the funds are attributable to be transferred.

The muse operates off an endowment — which now stands at $118 million — created in 2000 when Blue Cross Blue Defend of Maine was offered to insurer Anthem Inc. Final yr, the inspiration issued a complete of $4.3 million in grants to organizations for work in such areas as youngsters’s oral well being, elder care and college violence prevention. Bills and disbursements totaled $6.1 million.

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‘IS THIS FOR REAL?’

The muse is the one Maine-based recipient within the newest spherical of presents. 5 organizations within the state have beforehand obtained funding from Scott, who after her divorce was briefly married to Dan Jewett, a 1994 graduate of Oxford Hills Complete Excessive Faculty in Paris.

Like Leonard, different recipients have stated they did not notice they’d drawn the eye of the philanthropist or the advisers who vet candidates for her.

The workers at Good Shepherd Meals Financial institution in Auburn acquired a shock name in November 2020.

“It is so discreet,” stated Erin Fogg, the group’s vp of improvement and communication. “It was, ‘Is that this for actual?’”

The meals financial institution obtained $25 million, an quantity that surpassed its annual price range.

“It is a very massive and transformational sum,” Fogg stated.

Employees instantly started fascinated by how you can share the bounty and started by rising grants to companion organizations. The meals financial institution even launched an arm referred to as “Harvesting Good” that can promote frozen greens, beginning with Maine-grown broccoli, to extend meals output and bolster the state’s agriculture financial system.

Good Shepherd additionally set among the cash apart and can resolve how you can spend it over the following three to 5 years.

Fogg stated Scott’s workforce could be very hands-off as soon as the cash is transferred. All they ask, she stated, is for 3 years of brief annual stories describing how the cash is used.

“It is based in lots of belief,” Fogg stated. “It is a vote of confidence in our work and the work that is occurring throughout the state.”

Leonard stated she hopes the Maine Well being Entry Basis additionally will earn that belief when its cash comes by way of in January. She declined to take a position on the way it is perhaps spent and stated selections will likely be made in session with the group’s board, companion teams and others.

There are a mess of points affecting well being look after Mainers, she stated, and even with an surprising $9 million, “we won’t deal with all of them.”

Different Maine teams which have obtained cash from Scott are Coastal Enterprises Inc., a group improvement monetary establishment, which obtained $10 million in 2020; Goodwill of Northern New England, which acquired an undisclosed quantity in 2020; the Maine Neighborhood Basis’s Growth Arts Fund, which obtained $2.5 million in 2021; and 317 Neighborhood Heart, a music schooling group in Yarmouth, which acquired $1.5 million in 2021.