By Delilah Alvarado
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott recently donated a total of $2.7 billion to different organizations across the country. One of those included Excelencia in Education.
According to NBC News, Excelencia in Education, which helps Latinos in college, received a 10 million grant – the largest sum they've had since its founding 17 years ago.
The national nonprofit measures how successful colleges and universities are in graduating Latinos. The Scott foundation selected Excelencia for its “a data-driven approach to identifying organizations with strong leadership teams and results."
Deborah Santiago, Excelencia’s co-founder and CEO, said she did not expect the donation. She had received an email Friday to schedule a phone call over something important.
“To say, here's $10 million, you pick what you want to do with it, no strings attached, no reports required, allows us to do many things we see our community wants and needs to be able to do that," she said.
Santiago hopes the grant “will bring attention to other potential funders — we really want to get the kind of investment that's going to serve our community.”
With the grant, Excelencia can receive more resources for better analysis on what schools can do to boost Latinos in college.