PATH Foundation

The organization is listed as a “major co-funder” of Dietel Pickering and Partners, a left-of-center for-profit philanthropic advisory firm founded by former Rockefeller Brothers Fund president William “Bill” Dietel and two of his daughters. Elizabeth “Betsy” Dietel, one of the senior partners at Dietel Pickering and Partners, co-founded the organization in 2007. She is on the board of directors, and was a former chair, of the PATH Foundation. ^{2 3}

The PATH Foundation was notified in October 2022 that it would receive a $15 million grant from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. ⁴

Background

The PATH Foundation, formerly known as the Fauquier Health Foundation, is a private grantmaking foundation that prioritizes providing grants, and funding programs, regarding health in the Fauquier, Rappahannock, and Culpeper counties of Virginia. ¹

The PATH Foundation was founded in 2013 through a joint venture between Fauquier Health and LifePoint Hospitals. The two organizations came together to share ownership and the operation of Fauquier Health on October 31, 2013. The PATH Foundation’s board of directors convened for the first time on November 20, 2013. ⁵

Affiliated Organizations

The PATH Foundation is listed as a “major co-funder” of Dietel Pickering and Partners, a left-of-center for-profit philanthropic advisory firm founded by former Rockefeller Brothers Fund president William “Bill” Dietel and two of his daughters. Following the senior Dietel’s death in 2023, Dietel Pickering and Partners has become wholly women-owned, and the firm works with organizations aligned with the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement. ^{2 6 7 8}

Elizabeth “Betsy” Dietel, one of the senior partners at Dietel Pickering and Partners, co-founded the organization in 2007. She is on the board of directors for, and was a former chair of, the PATH Foundation. ⁹

Fauquier County Public Schools

In 2018, the PATH Foundation funded professional development initiatives in Fauquier County Public Schools (FCPS) focused on equity training. The foundation covered costs for the district’s implementation of Corwin Press Inc‘s Deep Equity program, a multi-day training for teachers and staff that aligns with critical race theory. PATH also sponsored University of California, Berkeley professor Pedro Noguera to speak at the FCPS convocation that August. According to FCPS, these activities were classified as professional development and did not require school board approval. ¹⁰ As of 2025, the superintendent of FCPS, Dr. Major Warner sits on the PATH Foundation’s board of directors. ¹¹

People

Christy Connolly is the president and CEO of the PATH Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, Connolly was a major donors associate at the American Red Cross from 1996 to 1997, area director for Northern Virginia at the American Lung Association from July 1997 to August 1999, and became the PATH Foundation’s president in November 2013. ¹²

Connolly is also on the board of directors at the Virginia Funders Network since January 2022 and Philanthropy Southeast since November 2024. ¹²

Funding

The PATH Foundation was notified in October 2022 that it would receive a $15 million grant from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. ⁴ Formerly known as MacKenzie Bezos, she is recognized as the third-wealthiest woman in the world after a divorce settlement left her with an estimated $37 billion. ¹³

Financials

The PATH Foundation received most of its revenue in 2023 in the form of contributions and grants, although in prior years it relied on the sale of assets. ¹⁴

The foundation had total revenue of just over $13 million in 2021, $7.5 million of which came from the sale of assets, while $4.6 million came from “other” income. The foundation’s expenses amounted to just under $12.5 million, and its net assets totaled around $186.5 million. ¹⁴

The organization’s revenue dipped in 2022 to just under $9.5 million, of which just under $7.7 million came from the sale of assets. Its expenses amounted to just over $15.1 million, around $10.5 million of which was spent on charitable disbursements, while $691,940 was spent on executive compensation. The foundation’s net assets amounted to around $215 million. ¹⁵

The PATH Foundation’s revenue amounted to $20.8 million in 2023, just under $15 million of which came from contributions and grants. The foundation’s expenses amounted to $14 million, of which just under $13.2 million was spent on charitable disbursements, while its net assets totaled around $246 million. ¹⁶

The PATH Foundation granted a total of $68,125 across four grants to the Fauquier County Government in 2023. ¹⁶