MacKenzie Scott’s Recent Giving for Early Education Spotlights the Power of Advocacy

Originally Appeared in Inside Philanthropy
By Connie Matthiessen

MacKenzie Scott has been at it again with her own special brand of philanthropy: surprising nonprofit organizations around the country with multimillion-dollar gifts — no strings attached. 

Early childhood is a focus for Scott's most recent blizzard of funding. Of the $146 million distributed through Yield Giving in the first half of 2023 — and that’s just what recipients announced publicly — close to half of the total went to organizations “focused on early-childhood education and early childhood development,” the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported. 

Early childhood nonprofits that recently received gifts in amounts ranging from $1 to $10 million include Alliance for Early Success, Parent Possible, Neighborhood Villages, Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, Early Edge California, Raising Childcare Fund, Parents as Teachers, Start Early and Zero to Three. 

MacKenzie Scott famously doesn’t disclose the specific reasons behind her funding decisions, and since Yield Giving debuted its website and grants database late last year, Scott has been silent on Medium — her usual mouthpiece of choice — about her 2023 giving. All the while, her first open call process has been ongoing. But while we don’t know exactly why Scott is making young children a priority right now, it’s a direction backed by science. 

A growing and authoritative body of research in recent years has demonstrated the value and lifelong benefits of quality, comprehensive early care. But our early care system has failed to keep up with the science. Despite the value of early care, U.S. spending on child care and early education is lower than almost any other developed country, according to the OECD, and low-income communities and children of color are most likely to lack access. The pandemic both amplified and highlighted the U.S.’s growing childcare crisis, which a polarized Washington has failed, to date, to do much about.

The Biden administration’s Build Back Better initiative did include major support for early childhood, but it was scrapped in the final reconciliation package. And D.C.’s decision to expand the federal Child Tax Credit via the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 made a substantial difference for families, but lawmakers failed to renew it, despite its effectiveness.

Philanthropy, too, has fallen short in terms of its early ed funding, as IP concluded in its brief, Giving for Early Childhood Education. That said, there has been an uptick in interest — and dollars — in recent years. A few major funders make early childhood a primary focus, including the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, the Foundation for Child Development, Pritzker Children’s Initiative and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In addition, many funders pool resources through the Early Childhood Funder Collaborative. A number of grantmakers associated with major living donors, including the Ballmer Group, Blue Meridian Partners, the Gates Foundation, Einhorn Collaborative and the Heising-Simons Foundation support early childhood alongside their other funding priorities.

MacKenzie Scott belongs on that list as well. Taking into account her recent giving, Scott clearly recognizes how critical early childhood is.

All about advocacy

For Helene Stebbins, MacKenzie Scott’s recent gifts are particularly significant because they went to a number of early education groups that promote advocacy — including Stebbins’ own. The Alliance for Early Success, where she is executive director, partners with and supports state-based advocacy groups that are working to strengthen child care and early childhood education. While a number of funders support direct services for families and very young children, Stebbins points out that funding for advocacy can be a harder sell. 

“We've been doing this for 23 years now, and the hardest part of my job is to convince people that this is a good place to put your money,” she said. 

The Alliance for Early Success’ total assets in 2022 were close to $18 million, according to Candid, and its giving was over $10 million. When Stebbins and her staff learned about the $10 million gift from MacKenzie Scott — and had time to let it sink in — they immediately decided it should go to the organization’s new Power Equity Initiative. Power Equity is an effort to create momentum for state-level early childhood initiatives by bringing together diverse voices, including parents, advocates and practitioners, to create powerful, sustainable coalitions.  

“The overall objective is to create a ‘tipping point’ in states — when support for young children is so great that their health and wellbeing are a priority for state policymakers, regardless of geography and political party,” reads an announcement by the alliance covering both the initiative and the funding from Scott. 

The Alliance for Early Success conceived the idea for the Power Equity Initiative in 2021 and received a planning grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Power Equity Initiative is a separate entity from the alliance; it is headed by a leadership council that includes representatives from the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI), 9to5, the United Parent Leaders Action Network (UPLAN), and the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative. It was launched earlier this year with $1 million from the alliance’s existing backers. 

Going into 2023, the Power Equity Initiative’s leadership council was still in discussion about how to proceed with the initial $1 million. “And then we got the money from Yield Giving,” Stebbins said. “And there wasn't more than a minute of conversation about where it should go. We realized that now we could seed the [Power Equity Initiative] in a real way. The staff agreed  and the board was very supportive.” 

The gift from MacKenzie Scott will allow the Power Equity Initiative to expand its ambitions significantly. Stebbins said that plans are still being developed, and the leadership council recently issued an RFP for a facilitator to help them create a comprehensive strategy.

Bold, diverse and powerful 

The Alliance for Early Success isn’t alone. Other recent Scott recipients also deploy advocacy in their efforts to influence early childhood policy — both in D.C. and at the state level. The national organization Zero to Three considers advocacy an important part of its mission, for example. And Early Edge California has been a major force behind efforts to improve early care in that state, most recently helping lead the successful push for universal transitional kindergarten. Another state-based organization, Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS), champions policies that promote quality early care and education, as does Massachusetts-based Neighborhood Villages.

Meanwhile, back at the Alliance for Early Success, the new Power Equity Initiative is drawing on lessons learned over 23 years of work. During that time, the alliance has supported a number of traditional state-based child advocacy organizations that understand the ins and outs of state legislative and budget processes.

“What we’ve come to embrace is that that work is essential — but not sufficient — to bring about the change that we want,” Stebbins said. “We want to build a bold, diverse, powerful voice in states that outlasts any particular political party in power and any particular budget cycle. The goal is to engage the workforce, parents, local philanthropy, community organizers, policymakers and the faith community. The more the better, and the more diverse the better, so everywhere you turn, you're hearing, ‘Early childhood is an important time, we need to think bigger about how we invest in it. And we're not going away.’”

It is a vision, sketched out in the organization's theory of change, that requires patient, long-term, leave-no-stone-unturned advocacy. This in turn requires resources, but Stebbins says that many funders remain wary.

“In recent years I haven’t had to convince funders about the early childhood piece, they have bought into that,” she said. “But there is a resistance to the strategy of investing in advocacy. I’ve had lots of conversations about, ‘Well, how do we know if we’re succeeding? What does success look like? What would the key performance indicators be for this kind of work?’ They all have to report back to their boards about what their funds did. They need to be able to say, ‘We funded camp for 400 kids in New York City,’ for example. That's a very tangible outcome. It’s easier to wrap your hands around.”

Stebbins is hopeful that MacKenzie Scott’s support for organizations that are advocating for the creation of an equitable early childhood education system will help persuade other funders to do the same. 

“This really is our reason for being at the alliance: We are here to create the durable public funding streams that are going to outlast any private donation or any giver’s individual interests,” she said. “To have MacKenzie Scott endorse that, I think — I hope —will encourage other people to take a closer look — both at what we’re doing, and at advocacy in general.”