MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has reportedly given away another $2.7 billion of the fortune she gained in divorce to 286 nonprofit organizations bringing her total donations so far to $8 billion. Scott wrote of the massive donation: “People struggling against inequities deserve center stage in stories about change they are creating.”
NPR reports that MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, has announced that another $2.7 billion of her fortune has been donated to 286 nonprofit groups. Scott made the announcement via a Medium blog post in which she stated:
People struggling against inequities deserve center stage in stories about change they are creating. This is equally — perhaps especially — true when their work is funded by wealth. Any wealth is a product of a collective effort that included them. The social structures that inflate wealth present obstacles to them. And despite those obstacles, they are providing solutions that benefit us all.
Putting large donors at the center of stories on social progress is a distortion of their role. Me, Dan, a constellation of researchers and administrators and advisors — we are all attempting to give away a fortune that was enabled by systems in need of change. In this effort, we are governed by a humbling belief that it would be better if disproportionate wealth were not concentrated in a small number of hands, and that the solutions are best designed and implemented by others. Though we still have a lot to learn about how to act on these beliefs without contradicting and subverting them, we can begin by acknowledging that people working to build power from within communities are the agents of change. Their service supports and empowers people who go on to support and empower others.
Because community-centered service is such a powerful catalyst and multiplier, we spent the first quarter of 2021 identifying and evaluating equity-oriented non-profit teams working in areas that have been neglected. The result was $2,739,000,000 in gifts to 286 high-impact organizations in categories and communities that have been historically underfunded and overlooked.
Scott has now donated more than $8 billion in funding to nonprofits, her net worth is estimated to be around $60 billion. In her divorce from Bezos in 2019, Scott was awarded a 4 percent stake in Amazon. During the pandemic, Amazon stock rose significantly and despite donating billions, Scott’s wealth continues to grow. In October 2019, Scott’s net worth was estimated at around $36.1 billion and has increased by around $23 billion since then.
Scott is now married to Seattle teacher Dan Jewett, both of whom have signed the Giving Pledge which is a commitment by wealthy individuals to give away the majority of their money.
The organizations that Scott has donated to include 317 Main Community Music Center, A Place Called Home, ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities, ACCESS, Achieving the Dream, ACT Grants, Adeso, Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Fund, African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, Cal Poly Pomona, California State University Channel Islands, California State University, Fullerton, California State University, Northridge, Candid, Center for Asian American Media, Center for Cultural Innovation, Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), and the Center for Evaluation Innovation.
Read Scott’s full Medium blog post here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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