NBA establishes new foundation focused on racial equity

• Published date: 01 October 2020
• Date: 01 October 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30866

NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR OCTOBER 2020

12 © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

appropriate use of the internet, (3)issued a written

warning, and (4)required to take a course entitled

“Management Skills for First-Time Supervisors.”

The court afrmed the summary judgment, stating

that other important considerations were: (1)nothing

like that had ever happened to the plaintiff before

that day, and (2)the CDTA had both a harassment

prevention policy and annual training for employees

concerning workplace harassment.

[Hoit v. Capital District Transportation Authority,

U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2d Circuit, No. 19-202,

03/30/20]. ■

News

MacKenzie Scott announces rst

batch of grants under Giving Pledge

MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder

Jeff Bezos who took the Giving Pledge in 2019 after

receiving roughly $35 billion in proceeds from the cou-

ple’s divorce, has provided details of her approach to

charitable giving. In a blog post on the topic published

on the website Medium.com, Scott explained her

process for identifying which charitable groups and

causes to support as she expands her philanthropy.

“Last fall, I asked a team of nonprot advisors

with key representation from historically marginal-

ized race, gender and sexual identity groups to help

me nd and assess organizations having major impact

on a variety of causes,” she wrote. “Though this work

is ongoing and will last for years,” she said, she wanted

to provide insights on her giving to-date “because my

own reection after recent events revealed a dividend

of privilege I’d been overlooking: the attention I can

call to organizations and leaders driving change.”

Scott accounted for her rst $1.67 billion in grants

awarded under the Giving Pledge according to the

following program areas:

• Racial equity: $586.7 million

• LGBTQ+ equity: $46 million

• Gender equity: $133 million

• Economic mobility: $399.5 million

• Empathy and bridging divides: $55 million

• Functional democracy: $72 million

• Public health: $128.3 million

• Global development: $130 million

• Climate change: $125 million

“On this list, 91% of the racial equity organizations

are run by leaders of color, 100% of the LGBTQ+

equity organizations are run by LGBTQ+ leaders,

and 83% of the gender equity organizations are run

by women, bringing lived experience to solutions for

imbalanced social systems,” she explained.

For more information, including a complete list of

grantees, visit https://bit.ly/2QtJkS5. ■

NBA establishes new foundation

focused on racial equity

The National Basketball Association Board of

Governors will contribute $300 million in initial

funding to establish the rst-ever NBA Foundation

dedicated to creating greater economic empowerment

in the Black community. The foundation, which is

being launched in partnership with the National

Basketball Players Association, will then be funded

to the tune of $30 million annually over the next 10

years, with money contributed from each of the 30

NBA team owners each year.

According to the league, the foundation’s mission

will be to drive economic empowerment for Black

communities through employment and career ad-

vancement; increase access and support for high

school, college-aged and career-ready Black men and

women; and assist national and local organizations

that provide skills training, mentorship, coaching and

pipeline development in NBA markets and commu-

nities across the United States and Canada.

The foundation will also aim to work strategically

with marketing and media partners to develop addition-

al programming and funding sources that deepen the

NBA’s commitment to racial equality and social justice.

The foundation plans to focus on what it calls three

critical employment transition points: obtaining a

rst job, securing employment following high school

or college and career advancement once employed.

To that end, it will work to enhance and grow the

work of national and local organizations dedicated to

education and employment, including through invest-

ment in youth employment and internship programs;

science, technology, engineering and math curricula;

job shadows and apprenticeships; development path-

ways outside of traditional higher education; career

placement services; and specic partnerships with

historically Black colleges and universities.

For more information, visit https://www.nba.

com. ■