Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida President and CEO Paul Martinez twice deleted emails offering his organization a $6.8 million grant.
He thought it was spam.
Earlier this year, Martinez said that while going through his 200 or so daily emails, one caught his eye. An unsolicited source wanted to award the area branch $6.8 million. He immediately deleted the email.
When the second arrived a day or so later, he again deleted it.
“I start every day with a prayer. I am always praying that we find the resources to run this place. I don’t pray about cash. It’s whether God brings me good people or other resources that are needed to make this place run,” Martinez said.
“I thought this was a scam on the order of you can receive $5 million if you send $50,000.”
However, when he received a third message while checking his work email at home at 9 p.m. that his curiosity was piqued.
He replied asking the person to call the office the next day at 2 p.m.
“I still didn’t think much of it. I didn’t even put it down in my calendar,” he said.
Promptly at 2 p.m. his phone rang. An unidentified woman said that her philanthropic group liked what the club was doing in Jacksonville and wanted to award the branch millions.
The club was one of 62 in the nation selected to receive money.
The caller said a third party would reach out in a couple of days to transfer the money. Martinez now thought it was worth pursuing.
That is when Bob Tedeschi, the club’s CFO, became involved. When Martinez told him about the emails and the phone call, he had an immediate reaction.
“It’s spam,” Tedeschi said.
“Paul is always a glass-is-overflowing guy. I’m definitely a glass-half-empty guy.”
At the request of Martinez, Tedeschi cleared one of the club’s little-used accounts, leaving in it just $5, to prepare for the potential transfer. He also worked with the bank to make sure that no withdrawals could be made.
Then the account number was given to the mystery donor.
On the morning of the second day, Martinez asked about the account. Tedeschi told Martinez to forget about it.
They were holding the grand opening of their offices on Newnan Street that day. There was plenty else to do.
Around noon, Martinez was startled by a loud “holy crap!” from Tedeschi’s nearby office.
The account had $6,800,005.
The name of the anonymous group donating the money was identified by The New York Times as Lost Horse, a shell company out of Delaware.
The source of the funds was MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon billionaire owner Jeff Bezos.
In 2019, Bezos transferred 19.7 million shares of his Amazon holdings as part of their divorce settlement, making her one of the world’s wealthiest women.
She pledged to donate billions, and in total, gave $281 million to Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
Her largest known gift was $436 million to Habitat for Humanity, according to the Times.
What to do with windfall
The annual Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida budget, not counting the windfall, is about $14 million, Tedeschi said.
Of that, 65% is from federal, state and city grants. The rest is from local fundraising.
The grant came with no strings. Martinez was told to just keep on doing what he is doing.
“Their belief is that the people running the place know better what to do with the money than they do,” Martinez said of Scott’s philanthropy.
Since Martinez joined the group in 2016 it has grown from 12 clubs to 38 in Duval, Nassau, St. Johns and Alachua counties. Most are in parks or schools.
He would like to use the money to expand services into Clay County and other underserved areas in the region.
Boys & Girls Clubs provide members a hot meal, homework tutoring and recreation. During the summer, children can visit McKenzie’s Camp Deep Pond in Hilliard. The camp is not associated with Scott.
“If we have done our job right, our kids will be walking the aisle on graduation night,” Martinez said. His group has a 98% high school graduation rate.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida is open to children ages 6 to 18.
There is a four-pronged approach to serving their teen members.
The club introduces them to two- and four-year colleges through on-campus visits, with interested students receiving help with the application and finding scholarships.
The club also introduces the teens to trade schools and works closely with the J-Tech Institute for automotive repair and diagnostics.
The military, as the city’s biggest employer, is an option that offers career opportunities.
There also is entrepreneurship. The Citi Teen Center at 10th and Liberty streets in Springfield offers dance and recording studios, a barbershop, nail salon and a print shop. At the center, teens can explore career interests in arts and music.
The Boys & Girls Clubs have joined with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to make the teen center a substation for the bicycle unit.
“This gives the kids a different light in which to see police and the police can see the kids in a different light,” Martinez said.
A note of apology
After seeing that the money was for real, Martinez reflected on the good fortune.
“Once I saw the money was there on the screen, I said to myself, what a schmuck. I felt compelled to write an apology note.”
Martinez said he needed to tell the mystery donors that he was sorry that he doubted them.
“I forgot that there is still good in this world,” he said.