Big Brothers Big Sisters of SWLA uses $1M donation to launch Big Defender Fund

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Last year Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Louisiana received an unprecedented $1.1-million individual donation from billionaire philanthropist Mackenzie Scott.

The donation is being used as a means to future-proof the organization following the pandemic and years of challenging weather events that disrupted critical services to at-risk youth.

“It’s like one of those things when you would always say like if I had a million dollars what would I do with it, and I’ve always said in this, ‘If i had a million dollars we could serve 1,000 more kids, and if I had a million dollars we could,’ and then finally it’s like, okay, well then we’re going to, the universe is saying here, what are you going to do with it now?” said BBBS of SWLA CEO Erin Davison.

BBBS of SWLA used the transformative Mackenzie Scott donation to launch the Big Defender Fund.

“And so as soon as we received it, we sat down and we said, okay, we’ve got to plan properly for this use of money, and we don’t need to plan for it right now,” Davison said. “We have fundraisers, we have donors, we have investors, you know, we have a generous community of giving. What we need, our youth needs, is for us to plan ahead.”

The Big Defender Fund is a designated beneficiary fund created in partnership with the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana that will provide BBBS of SWLA with a steady income stream to continually support their mission of creating and supporting impactful mentoring relationships that protect and nurture the potential of youth.

“All of our donors are big defenders, whether it’s a dollar, you’re a big donor, whether it’s a million dollars, you’re a big donor, all of our donors are important, and all of our programs and all youth are important,” said Davison. “So it takes a village and so now this fund is a global village of donors that are connected to our vision and mission.”