The Model by Al Sikes

“@MackenzieScott shows the boys of tech how it’s done.” Kara Swisher, author, Burned Book

Yes, I have an interest. Read Alliance (RA) received a grant from Yield Giving, a Mackenzie Scott Foundation project, of $1 million. I have been a part of it from the beginning.

I began READ in 2000 with several others, most prominently Alain Lebec and his wife Leah and Peter Flanigan, who were prepared to invest in an idea. The idea went hard against the prevailing wisdom, which in the teaching world was called “whole language” learning. READ, as it began, taught phonics-based reading skills.

We didn’t just teach phonics—we had high school-age tutors do the teaching. They taught, with teacher preparation, struggling children in the earliest grades. The teenagers knew their young students as they, too, had overcome challenges in what Yield Giving calls “underserved communities”.  Several years into this successful introduction we started paying the tutors. Over time READ became one of the largest employers of teenagers in New York City.

As our growth was recognized, READ became Read Alliance as we paired with other organizations. Our concept was proven long ago. It works with struggling readers, aspiring tutors and the teachers who prepare and supervise the tutors. But what about the Yield Giving organization started by Mackenzie Scott?

Scott is a billionaire who helped her then husband, Jeff Bezos, start Amazon. But she has done what few billionaires have done. Recalling the early days of Amazon and the difficulty in raising capital for its growth stages, she has become what I would call a venture funder of community-based leadership initiatives. Her organization, Yield Giving, “conducts research to identify candidate organizations working to advance opportunities of people in underserved communities.” As ideas are turned into organizations, deep insights into what works and how it works are gained.

Often people of enormous wealth engage in pet or vanity projects.  We need more Mackenzie Scotts who recognize that the fundamental strength of America is the freedom to succeed or fail. The freedom and aspiration to start things is an overriding asset. Otherwise, established organizations protect their territory and tend to stagnate and become models of inefficiency.

Tens of billions of venture capital to start businesses is deployed annually; it is quite encouraging to see this model in the not-for-profit sector.

Data show that there are a lot of failures as ideas are turned into businesses. Ideas need support from people who understand failure is essential to success. And American renewal, at any given point, depends on success being able to raise growth capital. Thank you Mackenzie Scott.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

Danielle Guindo, Read Alliance leader, contributed to this column.