MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, revealed that she has donated about two billion dollars to more than 300 organizations during the past seven months, and this came after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced that he would donate most of his fortune during his lifetime.
Forbes estimates that Scott has now donated $14.4 billion since their 2019 divorce to more than 1,500 organizations, with her recent donations reaching $1,990,800,000.
Scott announced her donation on the day Bezos and current partner Lauren Sanchez said he planned to give away the majority of his net worth of $124 billion during his lifetime, and although Bezos did not specify his donations, he said he would dedicate most of his fortune to fighting climate change and uniting humanity. .
Bezos has been criticized for not signing the Giving Pledge, a commitment by the world’s wealthy to dedicate most of their wealth to charitable causes.
According to the report, of the 277 nonprofit organizations surveyed, just over half of respondents said their grant from Scott made fundraising easier, with some saying they were able to use it as leverage with other donors.
Eighty-eight percent of respondents said it was the largest unrestricted grant they had ever received, and nonprofit leaders who received grants from Scott said it was transformative for their organizations.
“The amount of money wasn’t even real — what felt more real was the pride and verification that the work I was doing was important, and someone noticed,” said one nonprofit leader the report didn’t specify.