Mackenzie Scott has donated at least $4.3 billion to charity, with the activities of one of the richest and most powerful women on the planet shrouded in mystery. The ex-wife of the richest man on the planet, Jeff Bezos, refuses to comment on her donations. Bloomberg classified 375 grants totaling $4.3 billion.
Scott didn’t get the fortune until after she divorced Bezos in 2019. Shortly thereafter, she signed a “Giving Pledge,” promising to donate most of the funds during her lifetime or after her death through a will. At last count, she and her new spouse, Seattle science teacher Dan Jewett, will give a total of $58 billion to charity.
In all, 786 of Scott’s donations are known. However, 411 recipients do not disclose the amount of aid. Many of them are small organizations that are unlikely to ever attract major donors. Donation recipients fear that other donors may direct their money elsewhere if they learn of the large amount. Nevertheless, only one of the 270 Bloomberg respondents to the survey reported that funding had decreased since Scott’s donation.
Unlike other well-known billionaire philanthropists, Scott donates to a wide variety of causes. Scott’s money is directed to particularly pressing issues at the moment. For example, after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, nearly a third of the $1.7 billion was sent to racial equality organizations.
More than $1.6 billion went to educational nonprofits, colleges, and universities, with most of the money going to historically “black” educational institutions and educational institutions for Latinos. Social service organizations that feed, house, and support people in need received about $1 billion, and another $1.2 billion went to grants to nonprofits that raise money for charity.
