What It's Like When a Billionaire Surprises You With $8 Million--No Strings Attached

[demmiblue]

MacKenzie Scott, a new power player among the nation’s leading philanthropists, has been chipping away at her fortune over the course of the pandemic. Scott, who has been far more generous in her donations than her ex-husband, Jeff Bezos, had signed on to a pledge to give away a majority of her wealth—estimated at more than $50 billion—and has so far dispensed unusually large gifts with unusual alacrity and little of the red tape that usually comes with such donations. In particular, Scott has homed in on organizations that deal with climate change, LGBTQ rights, gender equality, poverty, and racial justice. Some of her largest surprise gifts were directed at colleges and universities with largely Black and Indigenous student bodies that she said were “selected for transformative work.”

To find out what it’s like to receive such a significant, no-strings-attached infusion of cash, Slate spoke with Donna Brown, the president of Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt, North Dakota. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Slate: Can you tell me a bit about Turtle Mountain Community College?

Donna Brown: TMCC is one of the very first tribal colleges ever developed in the United States. We’ve been in existence for almost 50 years. What people were finding was that so many of our students would go away to college, even if it was within North Dakota, and they would come home after—if they lasted a year. They were away from their families, they were lonesome, they were in a different environment, not a lot of support. Our students were failing. And so some visionary leaders 50 years ago or so decided to start tribal colleges on our reservations. They’re there to serve the educational needs of tribal citizens and provide the workforce that is needed on the reservation. We have about 500 students at any given time. And about 95 percent of those are Native American, and the majority of those are Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

How did the donation come about?

When I first received an email, it just said, “There’s a donor who’s potentially interested in giving money to the college. Would you have time to have a conversation with me?” And that’s really all it said.

So it was kind of, Is this real? Is this fake? What’s the deal? But I did have a conversation with somebody doing some research for [Scott]. By the end of the conversation, she basically said that MacKenzie would be giving us $8 million.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/04/mackenzie-scott-donation-community-college.html

MacKenzie Scott is an impressive woman.

[House of Roberts]

1. Rather than just describe it to me,

how about just letting me experience it personally?

[LisaL]

7. Yep, don't describe it to me, show me!

[Native]

2. Thanks for posting this!

[Politicub]

3. My hero!

[Victor_c3]

4. What a great way to use your money to help others

Donating a large sum of money to a struggling community college in a severely disadvantaged area will have a huge and lasting impact on the community.

I had a few experiences with community college and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the classes I took. By no means were they sub-par to the quality of classes I took at a private 4-year school.

[demmiblue]

6. I have taken classes at a CC, as well, prior to going to a four year college.

I remember taking a Chem 2 class in the summer term... several university students who were allowed to take the course for credits dropped it like a hot potato! The prof was a hard ass and the expectations were high.

[japple]

5. What a pleasure it was to read that article. There are good wealthy people in

the world.

[demmiblue]

8. Indeed!

I have been following her philanthropy and find it refreshing. She recently married a science teacher, and seems to be happy. Good on her!

[Demovictory9]

9. k&r