DC Central Kitchen was honored to be included in philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s 2024 grantees! This past spring, we were awarded a $15 million grant – the single largest charitable gift in our now 36-year history!
As a direct-service organization that has worked to redefine the fight against hunger for decades—and one that spent most of those years working with leftover food in the basement of an aging homeless shelter—this type of investment comes with a special sense of responsibility. Upon receiving the first installment of this gift in the spring of 2024, we made a series of mission-driven commitments informed by our community. These funds will be purposefully deployed over the next six to eight years as we expand our programming in response to local needs, invest in the long-term growth and financial security of our culinary graduates, and pass on 10% of this gift in the form of direct support to smaller organizations who are essential to DC’s social service ecosystem.
Investing in the progress and success of others is a value we share with Ms. Scott. In a December 18 essay on her Yield Giving website, titled “Investing,” Scott wrote about the 199 organizations that received a portion of her $2+ billion giving in 2024. She emphasized her focus on “non-profits that support the economic security and opportunity of people who are struggling by improving access to affordable housing, jobs that provide stability for themselves and their families, child development and post-secondary education, healthcare, and financial counseling, business coaching, and low-interest rate loans focused on increasing economic potential and building wealth.”
Scott ended her essay saying, “The gratitude I feel to these non-profits, to these funds and companies, and to the people helping me give these assets away is similar. I’m inspired by all the ways people invest in each other.” We are similarly grateful, and inspired, by the support we received throughout 2024, from allies like Ms. Scott, local foundations and families, corporate partners, and individuals supporting us with recurring monthly donations and estate gifts.
For 36 years, DC Central Kitchen has been combating hunger and its root cause, poverty, through job training and job creation. Thanks to the incredible support of our community we’ve been able to invest in more people than ever before. Our acclaimed Culinary Job Training program has increased its annual total of graduates by 100 people over the past two years and we’re committed to even greater results in 2025.
We will never be able to feed our way out of hunger. But through purposeful job training and job creation we can build a stronger, more prosperous community that works for everyone.
Read more about how this transformational gift will make a generational impact at DC Center Kitchen and make the support of partners like you go even further in the days ahead. Together, we can all provide the opportunities and hope our city needs.
