MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving charity has awarded $5 million to the Siouxland Community Health Center in Sioux City. Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, pledged in 2019 to give more than half of her billions to charity following her divorce.
CEO Mari Kaptain-Dahlen said the gift came as a surprise. She first received a phone call about the award a month ago., and an official announcement came on Nov. 1.
Kaptain-Dahlen said a task force will help decide how to spend the money, as the center wants to be "very deliberate and very thoughtful" about how to use the donation to best help the people the center serves.
“Because there are no strings attached to this, we don’t have to give an annual report, we don't have to give an account of how we use the money," she said. "So, there's just a strong sense of, we need to be responsible and thoughtful and really plan for how we use this to the benefit of our community.”
Each year, the health center’s three locations see an estimated 35,000 patients for a wide range of medical and behavioral health services. Kaptain-Dahlen said 80% are at 100% to 200% of the federal poverty level and 17% are uninsured.
“Last year, we had 52 different languages spoken at the health center, which speaks to the diversity of the people that we serve," she said. "And many of them, of course, are new to the country and are people that are just getting started in life and need our resources.”
Yield Giving stated that it chose the health center based on several attributes: strong leadership, a focused vision, multi-year measurable success, community impact and stable or growing assets.
"We're very grateful to her for what she has done for our organization."Mari Kaptain-Dahlen, Siouxland Community Health Center CEO
“We're very grateful to [Scott] for what she has done for our organization, and the recognition that comes with it, given their process," Kaptain-Dahlen said.
Other Iowa nonprofits have also benefited from Yield Giving. More than $14 billion has been donated to more than 1,600 entities in the past few years, including Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Iowa, Goodwill of the Heartland and the Quad Cities YWCA.
