MacKenzie Scott gives $9 million to Duluth business nonprofit

DULUTH — Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has given an unexpected and no-strings-attached $9 million to a Duluth nonprofit that helps entrepreneurs grow.

The Entrepreneur Fund (EFund) was chosen through Yield Giving’s “quiet research” process, in which it chooses and evaluates organizations privately for unsolicited gifts. EFund is only the second known northeastern Minnesota organization to benefit from the billions Scott, an author and the ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, has given since 2020 as part of her pledge to donate a majority of her wealth over her lifetime. The Duluth Area Family YMCA received an undisclosed amount in 2020. About $140 million in donations have now been designated to Minnesota organizations.

“It still feels surreal,” EFund CEO Shawn Wellnitz said. “And with no restrictions, it’s just transformational,” especially as pandemic aid dries up for businesses and creditors are more cautious about lending money.

Unrestricted gifts are considered rare in the philanthropy world.

The nonprofit EFund, formed in 1989, manages a portfolio of about $60 million, lending money and offering services to entrepreneurs in northeastern and east-central Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. The Seattle billionaire’s gift is its largest ever. The recognition and confidence that comes with a Scott donation can help the organization leverage that money “multiple times over,” Wellnitz said.

The nonprofit works with about 1,500 entrepreneurs each year. Wellnitz said the money will allow the organization to take bigger risks with companies they are already helping who are poised to bring more jobs to the region, along with preparing succession plans for the looming mass retirements of area aging business owners.

It has lent start-up money several times to Advanced Machine Guarding Solutions, a safety equipment supplier in Hibbing. EFund helped the owner, who came from the robotics industry, line up other funding sources. The company now has more than a dozen employees and “back orders through the roof,” Wellnitz said.

Yield Giving didn’t share why it chose the Entrepreneur Fund. Its website says it looks at organizations in underserved communities that have high potential for impact and have stable finances, a long track record and evidence of outcomes.