Colorado Politics

MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, donates $2.74 billion more to nonprofit organizations

MacKenzie Scott, the wealthy ex-wife of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, announced another series of multi-billion dollar charitable contributions this week – making it her third donation since last July.

Scott and her husband Dan Jewett will give nearly $2.74 billion to organizations “in categories and communities that have been historically underfunded and overlooked,” according to a Tuesday blog post.

“Sitting down to write this post, I felt stuck. I want to de-emphasize privileged voices and cede focus to others, yet I know some media stories will focus on wealth,” Scott began the post, saying she would prefer it be headlined “286 Teams Empowering Voices the World Needs to Hear.”

“Putting large donors at the center of stories on social progress is a distortion of their role,” she continued. “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.”

Scott wrote her focus was to donate to “equity-oriented non-profit teams,” adding that “discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities has been deepening.”

Recipients include art funds and other education programs, including programs for impoverished children and gang rehabilitation.

At least nine universities and numerous colleges also will receive funds, according to the blog post. Scott said she and Jewett “looked for 2- and 4-year institutions successfully educating students who come from communities that have been chronically underserved.”

In December, Scott announced more than $4 billion in donations to be given to 384 organizations. Before that, she announced a donation of about $1.7 billion on July 28, 2020.

Scott’s total net worth is estimated to be about $60 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.

FILE – In this March 4, 2018, file photo, MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. Scott, the billionaire philanthropist known for her impromptu multi-billion dollar donations to charities and racial equity causes, announced Tuesday, June 15, 2021, that she has given $2.7 billion to 286 organizations. It is the third round of major philanthropic gifts Scott has made, which together rival the charitable contributions made by the largest foundations. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
Evan Agostini
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