'We could not be more excited': Habitat Tuscaloosa to receive some of $436 million donation

First word of the multimillion-dollar donation sounded too good to be true.

Spoiler: It wasn't. Certainly good, but also true.

Habitat for Humanity of Tuscaloosa is one of 84 affiliates that will receive a portion of MacKenzie Scott's $436 million donation to Habitat for Humanity, an unsolicited and unexpected windfall.

When Ellen Woodward Potts, executive director of the Tuscaloosa affiliate, first heard word back in mid-February, she was doubtful.

"To be truthful, I thought it was a scam," she said Tuesday, "but thought it would be worth my while to check."

After following up, and hearing from Fidelity Charitable, the legitimacy solidified.

"Then it got really real, real quick," Potts said.

It's the largest publicly-disclosed donation from Scott, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, with a net worth estimated last year at $62.2 billion, stemming from a 4% share of Amazon. She's said to be the third wealthiest woman in the United States, and the 21st wealthiest person in the world.

Previous coverage: Tuscaloosa family's Habitat home dedicated just in time for Christmas

Related: Tuscaloosa business leaders pitch in to help build Habitat for Humanity home

Also an award-winning novelist, for books including "The Testing of Luther Albright," and "Traps," Scott pledged in 2019 to give away at least half her wealth to charitable causes. Her donations have been recorded at $5.8 billion in gifts for 2020 and $2.7 billion in 2021.

Of that $436 million, $25 million goes to Habitat for Humanity International, and the other $411 million to the 84 chosen affiliates.

“We could not be more excited to get the gift at a time when, in some ways, the state of housing affordability is the worst that it has been in modern times,” Jonathan Reckford, Habitat for Humanity International’s CEO, told The Associated Press.

The 84 affiliates, picked out of about 1,100 in the U.S., will receive proportionate amounts, and many of them are in much larger areas, so the exact count coming to Tuscaloosa isn't yet available, Potts said, but the board met Tuesday morning to discuss its use.

"We decided we need to use this in a way that will set us up for success long-term," Potts said. "For property purchase, major equipment purchase, infrastructure, all those things that cost a huge amount of money. If we use this gift wisely, it will set us up for success long-term."

Habitat Tuscaloosa will continue to build up to 10 houses a year, then add on another roughly 100 roofs per year, moving forward.

"We want to be good stewards of every penny, to use it in the way that will have the most long-term positive impact," she said.

As of yet, there's no solid indication of why Tuscaloosa was among the estimated 7 1/2% of Habitat affiliates chosen, as Scott and her husband Dan Jewett have a team that researches potential recipients. Potts has some theories.

"I found later that Habitat International had given some raw data, but had no input into the choice," she said. "It's pretty much her team doing all the research.

"But I think the partners that we have had, Mercedes, Nick's Kids, GAF, that level of quality that they demand in their regular operations. ... We know they all have high standards, so I think those big partnerships weighed in."

Possible other factors include the Tuscaloosa affiliate's climate-conscious buildings, with tornado safe rooms in every home, and the fortified roof program, which has fixed up more than 170 roofs in recent years, weighing in their favor.

"But I don't actually know, and can only assume," she said. "We were told that it was a one-time gift, and it was unrestricted.

"We have to do some once-a-year kind of standard reporting, but they told us 'We believe people in the local communities can best decide how to spend this money.' "

Locally-raised funds will continue to support construction, repair, construction trades training and general operations, Potts added.

Population growth in the city of Tuscaloosa, and the University of Alabama campus at its heart, has created a shortage in affordable housing, compounded by the April 27, 2011, F4 tornado. More than 70 percent of the roughly 5,300 homes destroyed that day were those of people with incomes less than $25,000 a year.

Even with Habitat Tuscaloosa's 2021 purchase of 40 lots near the Tuscaloosa Career and Technology Academy for "Operation Transformation," in which high school students studying construction get hands-on job training via Habitat build sites, in the next three to four years, they'll run out of property. Four homes have been completed there, with four under construction.

Over the years since Habitat Tuscaloosa's founding in 1987, by Hank Huckaby, a UA law school classmate of Millard Fuller, the Habitat International founder, it has built 137 homes, 90 of them since April 27, 2011, and repaired about 400 already standing homes.

In the wake of international coverage following that tornado, Habitat Tuscaloosa has hosted more than 27,000 volunteers from all 50 states and six continents.

Through its partnerships, Habitat Tuscaloosa builds affordable, stable housing, which individuals purchase at appraised value through a 0% interest, 30-year mortgage, investing 250 to 350 hours of personal volunteer labor.

"Especially as a mid-sized town affiliate, we're just so grateful to be chosen," Potts said. "It's a credit to our team and our board, and our partners. The reason we got here is because of those folks."

To learn more, see www.habitattuscaloosa.org.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Habitat Tuscaloosa to receive portion of $436 million donation