Seekhaven Family Crisis & Resource Center is the recipient of a $2 million award from MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving organization.
Seekhaven Executive Director Abi Taylor on Wednesday, March 20, said Yield Giving, so-named to reflect Scott’s belief that value can be increased by giving up control, awards people in places experiencing the greatest need in the United States.
“Seekhaven is delighted to announce that they received $2 million,” wrote Taylor in a press release.
Taylor in a brief interview Tuesday, March 19, said the process has been arduous and lengthy. In March 2023, Yield Giving launched an open call for community-led, community-focused organizations whose explicit purpose is to enable individuals and families to achieve substantive improvement in their well-being through foundational resources.
“Seekhaven is honored to receive this incredible opportunity to transform our program,” said Taylor. “This award builds a foundation to expand and enhance our services to meet the growing need in the community. Seekhaven has steadily grown in recent years, and this gift gives us a strong lead to continue in this direction”
The open call received 6,353 applications and initially planned for 250 awards of $1 million each. Last fall, organizations top-rated by their peers advanced to a second round of review by an external evaluation panel recruited for experience relevant to this cause and underwent a final round of due diligence.
“In light of the incredible work of these organizations, as judged by their peers and external panelists, the donor team decided to expand the awardee pool and the award amount,” reads the statement. Seekhaven was one of 279 organizations in the top tier of scores selected to receive $2 million.
“We are excited that our partnership with Yield Giving has resonated with so many organizations,” said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change. “In a world teeming with potential and talent, the open call has given us an opportunity to identify, uplift and empower transformative organizations that often remain unseen.”
Through Yield Giving, Scott, the former spouse of billionaire Jeff Bezos, has donated more roughly $17.3 billion to more than 2,300 nonprofit organizations, according to yieldgiving.com
More information on the Yield Giving Open Call and other initiatives can be found at www.leverforchange.org.
Established in 1990, Seekhaven’s mission is to empower individuals and families to survive domestic violence and sexual assault and to thrive in a strengthened community.
Seekhaven provides emergency shelter, advocacy, financial aid, and contracted counseling to domestic violence and sexual assault survivors in southeastern Utah. Headquartered in Moab, Seekhaven’s service area includes Grand, Emery and San Juan Counties, reaching individuals on the Navajo Nation and White Mesa reservations, and throughout the Four Corners region.
This story was first published by The Times-Independent.