Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has given Craft3 $15 million, the Northwest nonprofit announced Wednesday, the largest unrestricted gift it’s ever received, and one that will fund small business loans and entrepreneurship training.
The gift was made through Yield Giving, Scott’s charitable organization.
Craft3, which is based in Seattle and has offices in Astoria and Portland, makes loans to underserved small businesses. It also provides technical assistance to businesses and helps homeowners.
“We look forward to leveraging this support, along with what we gratefully receive from many other sources, all important regardless of size, to better serve communities across Oregon and Washington,” Craft3’s interim CEO, Bruce Brooks, said in a statement.
Scott previously gave the nonprofit $10 million in 2020, which it used alongside other philanthropic gifts, grants and bank funds to make $200 million in loans. The nonprofit also has worked to make its lending more inclusive, recording a 63% increase in dollars loaned to entrepreneurs of color in the past three years.
Craft3 is a community development financial institution, or CDFI, a certification given by the U.S. Treasury to financial institutions that serve economically disadvantaged communities.
Scott got shares of Amazon valued at roughly $38 billion in 2019 when she divorced Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. She’s since become a major philanthropist and has given away $17.3 billion, according to Yield Giving’s website.
Craft3 was founded in 1994, employs 84 people, and has made more than 2,000 commercial loans and nearly 10,000 consumer loans to homeowners, including to repair septic systems and improve energy efficiency.
– Matthew Kish covers business, including the sportswear and banking industries. Reach him at 503-221-4386, [email protected] or @matthewkish.
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