It is with gratitude and irrepressible smiles that the sisterhood of Urgent Action Funds announces our collective receipt of MacKenzie Scott’s generous, transformative, and indeed “human and soft” gift of $20 million.
All the words we could possibly use would be an understatement of the impact that this gift will have on the Urgent Action Funds. Wholly unrestricted, it aligns with our own Sister Fund principles of philanthropy, which center and build upon trust and care.
We trust and fund women and LBTQI+ human rights defenders. We listen to, and act with, grantees, advisers, staff, boards, and other feminist funds and imagine a new reality for our communities and our movements. We trust that our model of independent but interdependent Sister Funds supports us to better meet the needs of the women and LBTQI+ defenders in our own communities.
We are immensely grateful that MacKenzie Scott models this transformative power of philanthropy and has found trust in us. Now it is our moment, to meet the urgent and critical needs of our movements with care and to remake and recast a future that is for all of us – a more equitable and just, feminist future, where people and planet flourish.
