Planned Parenthood in Sarasota, St. Pete to get part of $275M donation from MacKenzie Scott

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is continuing her latest charitable donation spree with a $275 million gift to Planned Parenthood, the nonprofit provider of sexual health care announced Wednesday.

The contribution is the largest gift from a single donor in Planned Parenthood’s history. It will benefit the organization’s national office in New York as well as 21 affiliates nationwide, including Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida based in Sarasota.

“We are honored to be chosen as the stewards of this gift, and we will channel these funds to where they will have the greatest impact for all Floridians,” Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida CEO Stephanie Fraim said in a news release.

The charitable gift will also help launch a new Planned Parenthood program, the Black Health Equity Initiative.

“We know Black women experience disproportionately higher rates of maternal mortality, STIs, and will be most hurt by the loss of abortion access in the South and Midwest,” Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson said in the news release. “By starting with the Black health experience in local communities, we see this as an opportunity to not only improve health outcomes for Black patients, but to transform how all of our patients, partners, and communities experience our health care services, education, and organizing efforts.”

Founded in 1966, Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida provides services to patients with and without insurance at nine physical locations throughout the region — in Sarasota, St. Petersburg, two in Tampa, Fort Myers, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Naples and Orlando — as well as via telehealth. The organization says it serves about 38,000 patients.

The gift is one of the latest round of charitable donations from Scott. The novelist was formerly married to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and helped him start the company. In 2019, she signed the Giving Pledge, a non-binding agreement among some of the world’s richest people to give away most of their wealth.

Last week, Boys & Girls Clubs of America announced a $281 million gift from Scott; Boys and Girls Clubs of Manatee County received $3.2 million and Boys & Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade received $4.8 million. Locally, United Way Suncoast, Manasota Goodwill, Easterseals Southwest Florida have also received millions in support from the philanthropist.

“Communities with a habit of removing obstacles for different subsets of people tend to get better for everyone,” Scott wrote in a blog post shared Wednesday.