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MacKenzie Scott is honored as The Americas Press Angel of the Month for September 2026 in recognition of a philanthropic practice that has changed expectations for how large scale giving is conducted. By giving without restrictions and without the administrative burden that usually accompanies grants of this size, Scott has extended real operating freedom to organizations that rarely receive it. Her decision to seek out smaller institutions working in their own communities, rather than concentrating on the largest and best known recipients, has directed substantial resources toward work that had long gone underfunded. The Americas Press recognizes her this month for generosity exercised with unusual trust in the people doing the work.

Honoured for her decades long commitment to education, philanthropy, and community empowerment across the Americas, including sustained investment in access to education for young women and continued advocacy for disaster relief throughout the hemisphere.

Honoured for her extraordinary lifetime of humanitarian service across the Americas — through the Clinton Foundation's health equity programs in Latin America and the Caribbean, women's empowerment advocacy, and her continued voice for democratic values across the hemisphere.

The Americas Press honors Melinda French Gates this month for her sustained, decades-long commitment to expanding opportunity for women and girls worldwide. Through Pivotal Ventures and her continued influence on global health and education initiatives, she has directed billions of dollars toward work that makes a concrete difference in the lives of the most marginalized. With funding for women's reproductive health, contraception access, and girls' education facing headwinds in multiple countries, her willingness to name the problems plainly and back solutions with resources that match the scale of the challenge stands out.