Beyond Literacy Receives Transformative $2 Million Gift from MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving Open Call Competition
Philadelphia, PA — Today, MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving announced Beyond Literacy (BeLit), Philadelphia’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering adults through free literacy and language education, is one of the top-scoring Yield Giving Open Call awardees working with people and in places experiencing the greatest need in the United States. BeLit received a transformational $2 million donation from MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving platform. This gift will significantly bolster BeLit’s efforts to change lives through literacy and provide essential upskilling support to underserved communities across the region.
In March 2023, Yield Giving launched an Open Call for community-focused organizations whose explicit purpose is to enable individuals and families to achieve substantive improvement in their well-being through foundational resources. The Open Call received 6,353 applications and initially planned for 250 awards of $1 million each. In Fall 2023, organizations top-rated by their peers advanced to a second round of review by an external Evaluation Panel recruited for experience relevant to this cause, and underwent a final round of due diligence. In light of the incredible work of these organizations, as judged by their peers and external panelists, the donor team decided to expand the awardee pool and the award amount. Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change, said, “In a world teeming with potential and talent, the Open Call has given us an opportunity to identify, uplift, and empower transformative organizations that often remain unseen.”
Recognized for being among the very highest scoring applicants, Beyond Literacy’s $2 million award highlights the effectiveness and significance of their education programs in addressing the critical issue of adult literacy and workforce readiness in our society. Philadelphia is America’s most impoverished large city, where 52% of adults read and comprehend below a 6th grade level.
This substantial contribution will enable BeLit to expand their reach and amplify their programmatic efforts in promoting literacy as a pathway to empowerment and opportunity. “We are deeply honored and grateful to MacKenzie Scott and her Yield Giving team for their incredible generosity,” said Kimmell Proctor, CEO of Beyond Literacy. “This transformative gift underscores the importance of investing in intergenerational education opportunities as a catalyst for positive social change. The award will have a profound impact on our ability to make strategic investments that break barriers and make a meaningful difference in the economic mobility of more Philadelphians.”
More information on the Yield Giving Open Call and other initiatives can be found at www.leverforchange.org.
About Beyond Literacy:
As Philadelphia’s leading adult education nonprofit, Beyond Literacy provides cost-free services that equip marginalized, low-literate adults and their families to improve their academic, digital literacy and employment skills, earn a High School Equivalency credential, develop English language proficiency and gain living-wage employment. For more information about Beyond Literacy and how you can support our mission, please visit https://beyondliteracy.org.
About MacKenzie Scott and Yield Giving:
MacKenzie Scott, writer and philanthropist, is the author of the novels The Testing of Luther Albright, which won the American Book Award, and Traps. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she studied creative writing at Princeton with Toni Morrison. Established by Scott in 2022, Yield Giving is an organization that shares a financial fortune created through the effort of countless people. Yield is named after a belief in adding value by giving up control. To date, Yield’s network of staff and advisors has yielded over $16,500,000,000 to 1,900+ non-profit teams to use as they see fit for the benefit of others. To learn more, visit www.yieldgiving.com.
About Lever for Change
Lever for Change connects donors with bold solutions to the world’s biggest problems—including issues like racial inequity, gender inequality, lack of access to economic opportunity, and climate change. Using an inclusive, equitable model and due diligence process, Lever for Change creates customized challenges and other tailored funding opportunities. Top-ranked teams and challenge finalists become members of the Bold Solutions Network—a growing global network that helps secure additional funding, amplify YIELD GIVING OPEN CALL AWARDEE TOOLKIT members’ impact, and accelerate social change. Founded in 2019 as a nonprofit affiliate of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Lever for Change has influenced over $1.7 billion in grants to date and provided support to more than 145 organizations. To learn more, visit www.leverforchange.org.
Contact:
Amanda Labrador, Director of Communications
Beyond Literacy
[email protected]
704-785-6280 mobile; 215-472-7290 office
https://beyondliteracy.org/
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