If you thought MacKenzie Scott was ambivalent about billionaire philanthropy, wait until you hear what a feminist organization had to say about receiving a $10 million check from her.
Today we’re also looking at the implications of another round of potential U.K. aid cuts, and asking how USAID’s procurement regulations stifle diversity.
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MacKenzie Scott shared another update on her philanthropic giving on Wednesday, listing the organizations that have collectively received nearly $3.9 billion from Scott and her husband Dan Jewett since June.
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A combination of evolving altruistic manifesto, social commentary, and multibillion dollar grant announcements, these Medium posts have turned into the global philanthropic community’s equivalent of a surprise album drop, combined with a blockbuster sweepstakes.
“Equity can only be realized when all people involved have an opportunity to help shape it. And even people who spend years learning about the same problem will disagree on the best approach,” Scott writes, explaining her belief in assembling a “diversity of voices” around complex problems.
The organizations Scott selects for her unrestricted grants have likened her to a fairy godmother with a magic wand. One day you’re just going about your business. The next you get a phone call informing you that your operating budget is several million dollars larger.
So far, the response we’ve seen from most organizations that Scott has tapped has been a sort of dazed, “I still don’t believe this is real” gratitude.
That’s why it was interesting on Wednesday to see the Young Feminist Fund — FRIDA — an organization that supports young feminist organizers, tap into a similar sort of ambivalence about certain kinds of billionaire philanthropy that Scott herself has grappled with in her public disclosures.
In a statement titled, “Money Is Political,” FRIDA, which received $10 million in Scott’s latest funding push, wrote:
“As we welcome this donation and the feminist intent behind it, we maintain our deep concerns about the source of Amazon’s profits, and vehemently reject the oppressive, racial, capitalist, and exploitative systems that have enabled this wealth to grow. With this clear position, FRIDA commits to using these funds as part of our larger reparative approach to wealth redistribution, shifting resources back to the hands of our communities, who Amazon and other governments as well as corporations have harmed and stolen from.”
Scott has been open about her own conflicted feelings over the outsized power bestowed by wealth, what to do with it, and how to dismantle the same systems that helped create it. Maybe this is what success looks like.
Read: As MacKenzie Scott donates $3.9B, one grantee expresses ambivalence
The hits keep coming
Is another round of major U.K. aid cuts in the works? My colleague Will Worley reports that rumors have been circulating for a week or so about budget cuts for climate change, conflict prevention, and global health programs in the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
These fears are mounting alongside a Wednesday report in The Telegraph that Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is planning “radical” changes to the delayed international development strategy, which some expect could deprioritize global health and conflict prevention.
Will writes: “The size of the cuts being considered to the conflict prevention, climate change, and global health programs is not known, but it would be the third round of cuts these areas have suffered in recent times after the U.K's overall aid budget shrank two years in a row.”
Devex Pro: What more UK aid cuts could mean for climate change, health, and conflict
+ Check out our page with all the latest news in U.K. aid, and Pro subscribers can read Will’s predictions for U.K. aid in 2022. Not yet a Pro subscriber? Sign up now and start your 15-day free trial.
Two steps back
The Taliban reneged on a commitment to allow girls into school on Wednesday, throwing the future of Afghanistan’s relationship with international donors into further disarray.
Self-reflection
The U.S. Agency for International Development’s procurement regulations disadvantage marginalized communities, according to research the agency conducted last year and described in a business forecast call this week.
Business Editor David Ainsworth reports that USAID has determined it needs 195 foreign service contracting officers, but currently only has 125. The agency recently hired 36 new contracting officers, but it will require, “several years of training and experience before they will become fully operational,” according to Luis Rivera, the acting director of the Office of Acquisition and Assistance at the agency’s Bureau for Management.
Devex Pro: USAID finds procurement practices inhibit diversity
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Paving the way
“She broke the gravity that had so long held women from earning top foreign policy jobs, and stared down any man who tried to bully her, rattle her, or suggest she didn’t belong in the room.”
— USAID Administrator Samantha Power, on former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.Albright, the first female U.S. Secretary of State, died Wednesday at the age of 84.
My colleague Adva Saldinger interviewed Albright in 2017 — with much of their discussion focused on the sometimes fraught relationship between the State Department and USAID.
From the archives: Madeleine Albright on multilateralism, foreign aid reform, and the UN
In other news
The U.N. has set a five-year deadline to ensure people around the world are protected from climate disasters by early warning systems. [CNN]
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias wants to spearhead a humanitarian mission to Ukraine's Mariupol where thousands of ethnic Greeks live. [Reuters]
The International Labour Organization has suspended technical cooperation or assistance to Russia over the country's actions in Ukraine. [Al Jazeera]
Update, March 24, 2022: This edition of Newswire has been updated to reflect that Scott shared an update on her philanthropic giving on Wednesday.
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About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
