The Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas says they've received $3.8 million from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott as part of a larger $84.5 million donation to Girl Scouts of the USA that was announced on Tuesday morning.
The gift from Scott, 52, who was previously married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, marks the largest-ever single donation in the organization's history and, according to the Girl Scouts, "will accelerate GSUSA’s initiatives that give girls the tools to become the next generation of powerful women leaders."
“The support from all our donors, including this generous donation from Ms. Scott, is critical in delivering on our work of reimagination and transformation. We’re excited to prove how Ms. Scott’s investment in girls will change the world—because when one girl succeeds, we all succeed," the Girl Scouts of the USA said in a news release.
Scott and her team vetted 29 councils across the country and distributed funds that the organization said will help advance the organization’s evolving mission post-pandemic and create more equitable membership opportunities in communities that have been under-engaged.
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The Girl Scouts said the funding will also allow them to innovate programs to better prepare girls for leadership roles, "bolster the foundations of the movement" in areas such as research, staff and volunteer training and future-proof facilities including iconic Girl Scout camp properties.
Jennifer Bartkowski, CEO of Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, told NBC 5 she learned about the surprise gift in May but was asked to keep the investment confidential until now.
"It's a game-changing amount of money. It is absolutely a transformational gift," Bartowski said. "I think that's what MacKenzie Scott is trying to do around the country for organizations like ours."
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Bartowski said before they were awarded the gift they had been working to reimagine what the Girl Scouts could be post-pandemic and that the money will allow them to better work within their communities and with families and teams while reimagining their spaces.
Most importantly, Bartowski said, the money will benefit the girls.
"Every bit of this money is being spent on girls in our community," Bartowski said. "This gift will help us engage with communities in Northeast Texas that we haven't engaged with before. So we will be funding not only our spaces and how we show up in communities but also our delivery model in how we want to bring Girl Scouts to volunteers and Girl Scouts to girls."
Bartowski said the investment will allow the Girl Scouts to show up differently in the community compared to how they have before and they hope it will allow them to grow larger and serve more girls.
"Hopefully what that means is that we will be the girl-serving organization of choice for families who really want an opportunity for girls and for their daughters," Bartowski said.
