Jeff Bezos' ex-wife MacKenzie Scott donates $4.2B to charity
The donation is one of two major charitable contributions she's made this year
MacKenzie Scott, one of the world's richest women, has donated $4.2 billion to nearly 400 charity organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a blog post this week, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wrote that she was inspired to "accelerate [her] 2020 giving through immediate support to people suffering the economic effects of the crisis."
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Scott's team -- which sought the perspectives of hundreds of field experts, funders, non-profit leaders, and volunteers -- gave special attention to organizations operating in communities that are experiencing or will face high food insecurity, racial inequality, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic capital.
"The result over the last four months has been $4,158,500,000 in gifts to 384 organizations across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington D.C," wrote Scott.
In total, she looked at 6,490 groups and did a deeper dive on 822 of them, listing in her post the organizations that received funds.
"These 384 carefully selected teams have dedicated their lives to helping others, working and volunteering and serving real people face-to-face at bedsides and tables, in prisons and courtrooms and classrooms, on streets and hospital wards and hotlines and frontlines of all types and sizes, day after day after day," Scott continued.
The philanthropist's move marks her second major charitable contribution of the year. She donated $1.7 billion to 166 organizations -- including historically Black colleges and universities -- in July.
Scott committed to Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates' Giving Pledge initiative in 2019, which funds charitable causes.
She is now the world's 18th richest person, with a net worth of $60.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
"Though I’m far from completing my pledge, this year of giving began with exposure to leaders from historically marginalized groups fighting inequities, and ended with exposure to thousands of organizations working to alleviate suffering for those hardest hit by the pandemic," she added.
"If you’re craving a way to use your time, voice, or money to help others at the end of this difficult year, I highly recommend a gift to one of the thousands of organizations doing remarkable work all across the country," Scott said.
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"Every one of them could benefit from more resources to share with the communities they’re serving," she added. "And the hope you feed with your gift is likely to feed your own."