Scott R Mackenzie Foundation Inc.

The Scott R. MacKenzie Foundation is a narrow, mission-locked funder, not a general medical or disease-charity grantmaker. Founded in 2013 by Scott MacKenzie — a Maine-raised, self-described lifelong science enthusiast — the Foundation exists to fund 'leading-edge human genetic research (DNA, RNA, protein)' aimed at cures for cancer, lung disease (including asthma), diabetes, and heart disease. Every one of its top grantees in the data — Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory ($850,000 across 2 grants), University of Florida Foundation ($732,500 across 6 grants), Cincinnati Cancer Foundation ($350,000), Florida International University ($350,000), University of Arizona ($350,000 across 2 grants), Israel Cancer Research Fund ($148,500), The Jackson Laboratory ($135,000), University of North Florida ($128,449), and Mayo Clinic ($103,203 across 3 grants for the TAPESTRY study) — is an academic medical center, research institute, or genomics-focused nonprofit, never a direct-service charity. First-time applicants should understand this is a research-grant funder run like a small, hands-on family foundation: five directors (Melinda A. Mackenzie, Lawrence B. Mackenzie, Gerardo Cruz, Paula Sprague, and founder Scott R. Mackenzie) each draw modest $15,000 compensation, with Executive Director Carolyn Tucker as the primary point of contact and relationship manager (ctucker@scottrmackenziefoundation.com). The process runs in two stages: an Initial Grant Application (due April 30) to test mission alignment, followed — if invited — by a Final Grant Application (due June 30) that may require a representative presentation or an on-site facility tour. In Chairman Scott MacKenzie's own words, the Foundation's 'niche is providing funding very early on to researchers who show promise, but might not yet qualify for funding from larger sources,' which signals a preference for promising early-stage projects and investigators over large, already fully-funded programs. The repeat funding to University of Florida (6 grants) and Mayo Clinic (3 grants) shows that once a relationship is established, the Foundation tends to reinvest in the same institutions rather than continuously seeking new grantees — so a strong first Initial Grant Application, even if modest, can open the door to a durable multi-year funding relationship.

The Foundation's giving is modest in scale but concentrated by design. Across the top-grantee dataset (18 grants, likely spanning several fiscal years), total disbursed was $3,147,652, averaging $174,870 per grant with a median single-grant size of $149,250 and a typical range of $9,763 to $400,000. The largest single relationship, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, received $850,000 across two grants for diabetic vascular/kidney (glycocalyx) research — nearly matching the maximum reported for any single award, underscoring that sustained relationships can substantially exceed the stated per-grant ceiling in cumulative terms. Annual grants-paid figures from Form 990 data show a foundation that has scaled its giving over time: $0 in FY2013, $395,230 in FY2014, $999,686 in FY2015, then $825,000 (FY2019), $939,383 (FY2020), $1,008,269 (FY2021), and $1,200,000 (FY2022) — a fairly steady climb toward roughly $1.0–1.2 million in annual grants paid. Total assets, however, have declined from $19,977,679 (FY2013) to $12,710,916 (FY2024), indicating the Foundation is in a gradual spend-down mode, paying out more than its net investment income covers in most years (e.g., FY2020 net investment income of $210,387 against $939,383 in grants paid). Geographically, the grantee data skews heavily toward Florida (11 of 18 grants — University of Florida, Florida International University, University of North Florida, and Mayo Clinic Florida), consistent with the Foundation's Jacksonville, FL home base, with secondary clusters in Maine (3 grants — Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, The Jackson Laboratory), Arizona (2 grants — University of Arizona), New York (1 grant — Israel Cancer Research Fund), and Ohio (1 grant — Cincinnati Cancer Foundation). By disease focus, cancer research draws the largest share of dollars (Cincinnati Cancer Foundation, FIU, Israel Cancer Research Fund, The Jackson Laboratory, plus a portion of UF's six grants — roughly 35-40% of total giving), followed by diabetes-related research (led by the $850,000 Mount Desert Island award, roughly 30%), heart disease (University of Arizona's atrial fibrillation work, University of North Florida's cardiovascular study, plus a share of UF's cardiac-related grants, roughly 23-26%), and a smaller allocation to lung disease/asthma genetics (part of UF's portfolio, roughly 4%).

Among privately-funded foundations of comparable asset size (~$12.7 million) classified under the same Philanthropy & Grantmaking NTEE category, the Scott R. MacKenzie Foundation stands out for having a genuinely open, published application process — most peers in this asset tier are family trusts with no public application pathway.

All five peers cluster within roughly $5,600 of each other in total assets ($12.705M-$12.711M), suggesting they may share a common asset-management or filing cohort, but only the Scott R. MacKenzie Foundation and The Sparks Foundation maintain public-facing websites among this peer set. This makes the Scott R. MacKenzie Foundation unusually accessible for a foundation its size — most peers at this asset level appear to operate as closed, relationship-only family trusts, while MacKenzie publishes deadlines, an application form, and named staff contact.

The most recent verifiable activity from the Foundation itself dates to April 2024, when its press page featured three items: an April 8, 2024 piece on University of Miami researcher Himanshu Arora, Ph.D. training AI to diagnose prostate cancer; an April 9, 2024 article on the clinical difficulty of switching patients between intravenous and oral P2Y12 platelet inhibitors (tied to the Foundation's University of Florida cardiac-research grants); and an April 10, 2024 grantee impact statement from the Israel Cancer Research Fund describing 2022 as 'a mixed year' marked by 'a return to in-person activities.' No grant announcements, leadership changes, or program updates dated 2025 or 2026 were found on the Foundation's website or through web search as of this research (July 2026) — the Foundation appears to communicate publicly on an infrequent, non-annual cadence rather than issuing regular news updates. The most substantive named grant found in web research remains a January 7, 2021 announcement of $350,000 to Florida International University's Robert Stempel College of Public Health (Dr. Diana Azzam) in partnership with Cleveland Clinic Florida (Dr. Jorge Manrique Succar), funding a two-year clinical trial using functional drug-sensitivity and genomic profiling to guide personalized sarcoma treatment. In that release, Chairman Scott MacKenzie described the Foundation's niche as funding 'researchers who show promise, but might not yet qualify for funding from larger sources.' On the financial side, the most recent Form 990 data available (FY2024) shows total assets of $12,710,916 and total revenue of $998,631, continuing the gradual multi-year decline in assets from a FY2013 peak of $19,977,679. Cumulatively, the Foundation's own website reports 46 grants awarded since its 2013 inception, totaling roughly $9.7 million in direct grantee support, with recent average annual funding of approximately $1.2 million.

This Foundation rewards precision, not breadth: proposals must be framed explicitly around human genetic or genomic research methodology (DNA, RNA, or protein-level science) tied to one of exactly four disease areas — cancer, lung disease (including asthma), diabetes, or heart disease. General medical services, patient support programs, or disease-awareness campaigns fall outside its mission regardless of merit. Confirm eligibility before applying: only U.S.-based organizations that are tax-exempt under IRC Sections 170 and 501(c)(3), with a minimum of five years of operating history, qualify — a rule that filters out newly launched research centers or spin-off nonprofits even when housed within an eligible parent institution. Timing is rigid and unforgiving: the Initial Grant Application must be submitted (email to ctucker@scottrmackenziefoundation.com, or mailed/postmarked to 2518 Park Street, Suite 2, Jacksonville, FL 32204) by April 30 each year, with only one application accepted per organization per calendar year — so internal coordination matters if multiple departments at a university or health system want to apply. Do not treat the Initial Application as a formality: it is used for 'preliminary determination of whether your organization's needs are consistent with the Foundation's Mission,' meaning mission-fit language should be front and center, not buried in a broader research narrative. If invited to submit a Final Grant Application (due June 30), be prepared for the Foundation to request a representative presentation or a facility tour before finalizing a decision — build slack into research team schedules for this possibility. A common mistake is pitching disease-outcome or care-delivery framing without a clear genetic/genomic research core; reviewers are looking for translational science with a defined path to diagnostic or treatment application, not incremental clinical operations improvements. Multi-year funding is possible but must be explicitly justified in the application — don't assume it will be inferred. Finally, respect the Foundation's publicity terms: any media mention of a grant must be pre-approved, so build a check-in with Carolyn Tucker's office into any planned announcement or press release before publishing.