MacKenzie Scott must be a part of the small majority of billionaires who care with generous $US2.7 billion donation.
MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is notorious for for her impromptu donations to charities and racial equity causes.
Her recent donation that is equal to $3.5 billion AUD, which she described in a blog post on Medium, is because she and her husband, Dan Jewett wish to enable the recipients to continue their work.
Additionally, they have described the donation as a token of “signal of trust and encouragement” to them [recipients] and others.
The feeling has been mutual with six nonprofits in Michigan alone being named in Scott’s donations.
Scott revealed her personal opinions in this announcement, clearly outlining that the increasing concentration of vast wealth among a small proportion of individuals is troubling.
And hey, she ain’t wrong.
However, she didn’t entirely orchestrate this munificent donation by herself.
She and her husband, Mr Jewett workshopped with a team of researchers and philanthropy advisers “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,” Ms Scott outlined.
Other recipients include universities like the University of Central Florida and the University of Texas in San Antonio receiving $US40 million each, to refugee resettlement groups and civil rights groups
Furthermore, Scott is also donating to arts and culture organisations that were hit hard by the current coronavirus pandemic.
Although, some people on Twitter have made very worthy notes in where Scott should also donate to –
Wish MacKenzie Scott would buy rainforest in #indonesia and #malaysia to save orangutans. Over half have died in the last 16 years. Please RT this, make it trend & maybe she’ll hear about @DrBirute‘s https://t.co/O0FHc45PGu #ClimateCrisis #Sustainability #animals #MacKenzieScott https://t.co/hY8uof1HzR pic.twitter.com/JDpCRKWkal
— Save Orangutans. Ban Palm Oil. Buy Rainforest. (@mettahapa) June 16, 2021
This donation is the third round of ‘no-strings-attached’ instalments Ms Scott has gifted.
Prior to this in 2020, Ms Scott announced that she would be donating a total of $US6 billion to COVID-19 relief, gender equity, and historically black colleges, as well as other schools.
“Because we believe that teams with experience on the front lines of challenges will know best how to put the money to good use, we encouraged them to spend it however they choose,” Ms Scott wrote.
Forbes estimated Ms Scott’s wealth as a rough $US60 billion which luckily for her, only increased post-divorce from Mr Bezos in 2019 AND she got to walk away with a 4 per cent stake in Amazon.
Snaps for Scott!
After her split, she signed the Giving Pledge which is a commitment Bill and Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffet manufactured for the world’s richest individuals to donate a majority of their wealth either in their lifetimes, or in their wills.
At least there are some good things in our world, right? Right?!
