The knock on the door oftentimes comes from the Girl Scouts. They sell cookies to raise funds for their outreach and programs. This activity has been around for many years now. However, this philanthropic work had to halt during the pandemic.
While many businesses suffered financially from the economy closing down, the Girl Scouts Association had their fair share of blows as well. They weren’t allowed to sell cooking during this time, and thus losing fiscal stability along the way.
However, things have changed for Girl Scouts of the USA. In fact, they may need to present MacKenzie Scott a badge for philanthropy. This was because she recently donated a whopping $84.5 million to the group, and to date, this is the largest gift they have ever received from just one person.
The generous grant that Scoot made was made as a sustenance the group needs because they couldn’t raise funds from cookie sales and membership during the difficult time. They had been suffered during this time and was able to provide the much required support everyone needed.
Scott is the former wife of Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos. She awarded the large donation to the national group and 29 local councils that she selected herself. The money included $4.2 million to the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys as well as $4.9 million to Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles.
“This is a great accelerator for our ongoing efforts to give girls the tools to become the next generation of powerful women leaders,” said Sofia Chang. She is the group’s current CEO. “We’re excited to prove how Ms. Scott’s investment in girls will change the world—because when one girl succeeds, we all succeed,” she added.
The group stated that the grant will also help in the expansion of focus on career readiness and mental wellness.
“Integral to this work is expanding girls’ access to STEM exploration, building upon exciting areas of interest such as hands-on coding, aeronautics, and sustainability.”
Much of the money will also boost staff and volunteer training and “future-proof its facilities, including the iconic Girl Scout camp properties, including expanding both accessibility and high adventure elements at camp.”
Scott’s donation is set to do the following:
- Further bolster equitable membership opportunities such as diversity, equity, inclusion, and racial justice (DEI/RJ) initiatives.
- This will also reimage the troop experience model in order to remove accessibility barriers. This will be done by partnering with families and communities so they can focus on the wellbeing and development of the girls.
- Innovate more programs to include current interests and needs so that the leadership skills will be honed. They will do this by focusing on career readiness and mental wellness. They will also explore STEM, coding, aeronautics, and sustainability.
- Strengthen current foundation through research, staff, and volunteer training. Their goal is to become visionary about the role Girl Scouts plays in little girls and women by focusing on health and wellbeing of the communities.
- Future-proof the facilities they have such as the Girl Scout camp properties. Included here are different investments like climate-resiliency improvements, designing its physical presence, and improving accessibility and high adventure elements.
The is easily recognizable by its distinct brown and green sashes and vests. These are all found on girls enrolled under 111 regional councils nationwide. In fact, the Girl Scouts are practically on all the zip codes around the U.S.
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