MacKenzie Scott.Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Jeff Bezos' ex-wifeMacKenzie Scottcontinues to donate her fortune to address wealth inequalities.
Scott, 51, announced on Tuesday that she and her newly-wed husbandDan Jewettdonated $2.7 billion to 286 underfunded organizations in the hopes that they will be able to flourish. The billionaire also encouraged other wealthy individuals to donate to the listed groups.
“People struggling against inequities deserve center stage in stories about change they are creating,” she wrote in a lengthy Medium blog post. “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.”
She went on to explain her decision to donate the lump sum and the process she and Jewett, 46, went through to determine the recipients.
She continued, “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.”
MacKenzie Scott.Michael Kovac/Getty
Scott also spoke about “extreme poverty” and how it disproportionately affects people of color and women.
“Over 700 million people globally still live in extreme poverty. To find solutions, we all benefit from on-the-ground insights and diverse engagement, so we prioritized organizations with local teams, leaders of color, and a specific focus on empowering women and girls,” she explained.
The organizations Scott chose were comprised of universities, arts and culture organizations, refugee settlement groups, police reform programs, LGBTQ organizations, and more.
“We chose to make relatively large gifts to the organizations…both to enable their work, and as a signal of trust and encouragement, to them and to others,” Scott said. “Would they still benefit from more (more advocates, more money, more volunteers)? Yes.”
“These 286 teams were selected through a rigorous process of research and analysis,” she added.
MacKenzie Scott.Jörg Carstensen/picture alliance via Getty
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Scott’s latest donation follows a string of donations in the past two years sincejoining the Giving Pledge, which boasts a list of billionaires who pledge to donate half of their fortune. At the time, she was worth $37 billion.
In July 2020, she revealed that she gave nearly$1.7 billion to various charitiessince signing the pledge in 2019 to donate a majority of her wealth.
Scott followed that up with a$4.2 billion donationto 384 organizations in December 2020.
The ex-wife of Amazon founder is currentlyranked as the 22nd richest personin the world, while Bezos remains at No. 1 with a wealth of$195.2 billion.
source: people.com
