Billionaire MacKenzie Scott Gives $9M To Nonprofit With Aurora Clinics

AURORA, IL — A healthcare nonprofit with two clinics in Aurora is the recipient of a surprise $9 million donation from a billionaire's philanthropic organization.

Aunt Martha's Health and Wellness announced the news Wednesday, saying in a release that it was one of the largest recipients of the donation from MacKenzie Scott's Yield Giving through the Chicago Community Trust.

"We're all shocked," Aunt Martha's CEO Raul Garza told the Daily Herald. "We're all thankful."

The nonprofit is the only Federally Qualified Health Center in Illinois that's also licensed by the Department of Children and Family Services to care for young patients in out-of-home placements. The organization has clinics throughout the state, including in Chicago, Aurora, Joliet and Carpentersville.

Aunt Martha's plans to use the funds to "further enhance the impact of its unique brand of value-based, integrated care in communities across Illinois," according to a news release.

The team working for the nonprofit founded by Scott, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's ex-wife, performed "quiet research" on Aunt Martha's, doing a "careful analysis of criteria specific to their size, geography, and mission for indicators of high potential for sustained positive impact, including stable finances, multi-year track records, measurement and evidence of outcomes, and experienced leadership representative of the community served," according to the Yield Giving website.

They reached out to the organization only after making the decision.

"It is a testament to the value that Aunt Martha's creates for our patients, participants, and DCFS youth through our innovative model of care," Garza said in a statement. "It is also validation of our history of fighting for the equitable treatment of underrepresented individuals and communities."