Mackenzie Scott (Bezos) has donated $1.7 billion across 116 charities

Axel Springer Award 2018 in Berlin

By most accounts, Jeff Bezos’ affair with Lauren Sanchez began at some point in 2018. By the fall of 2018, he and his wife Mackenzie Bezos had quietly separated, and then in January 2019, the National Enquirer tried to “out” Bezos for the affair. Shenanigans ensued, but we don’t have to recap all of that. Jeff Bezos is still with Lauren Sanchez and I still feel like he’s going to regret that long-term. He lost a real one when he divorced Mackenzie. Mackenzie ended up walking out of the marriage with about $36 BILLION, mostly in Amazon stock. Last year, she signed The Giving Pledge, which is just a promise to donate at least half of her wealth to charity in her lifetime (or in her will). She’s already started (and now she has a new name!).

MacKenzie Scott, formerly MacKenzie Bezos, has already donated nearly $1.7 billion of her fortune to a variety of organizations and causes after pledging last year to give most of it away during her lifetime. Scott on Tuesday provided an update on that effort in a post on Medium and also announced that she has changed her last name to the middle name she grew up with, following her divorce from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos last year.

Scott received a quarter of Bezos’ Amazon shares in the couple’s divorce settlement last year, giving her a 4% stake that was worth more than $35 billion at the time. Her net worth is currently estimated to be around $60 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index.
“Like many, I watched the first half of 2020 with a mixture of heartbreak and horror,” Scott wrote. “What fills me with hope is the thought of what will come if each of us reflects on what we can offer.”

The $1.7 billion donation was spread across 116 organizations focused on one of nine “areas of need,” she added, including racial equity, LGBTQ+ equity, functional democracy and climate change. Among the organizations she backed are the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Obama Foundation, the George W. Bush Presidential Center, RAINN and the European Climate Foundation.

Bezos, the world’s richest man, has previously been criticized for not contributing more of his wealth to philanthropy, but has donated billions of dollars in recent years to causes including climate change and food banks. He has not signed the Giving Pledge.

[From CNN]

I have no comprehension of what it would feel like to be worth $36-60 billion. I just can’t even fathom. I can’t even do the mental breakdown of giving away $1.7 billion across 116 charities and organizations. What, about $10 million per charity? And she literally has $50 billion-plus in cash and stocks left.

One of the charities she gave to? CAMFED, the organization which supports girls’ education on the African continent. Mackenzie’s contribution will support five million girls in “Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe over the next five years, and millions more into the future.” The Duchess of Sussex is the royal patron for CAMFED.

(FILE) Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and wife MacKenzie to divorce

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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31 Responses to “Mackenzie Scott (Bezos) has donated $1.7 billion across 116 charities”

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  1. ME says:

    That’s amazing. Good for her !

  2. Sequinedheart says:

    She’s so badass. She is a class act & this kind of thing really highlights what garbage Lauren Sanchez is.. & Jeff for that matter.

    • lolalola3 says:

      Exactly! She’s amazing. Brains, beauty and a good heart. No surgery-altered frozen face or floatation-device-sized boobs. She is well rid of that 5 mile tire fire of a husband.

  3. Sayrah says:

    Amazing. Jeff you messed up.

    • Noki says:

      I cannot believe he is still with her,was she not found involved with her shady brother ?

      • Sayrah says:

        I’m sure she told Jeff her brother stole her phone to get the sexts but I still think she was involved to force him into a divorce. She’s gross

  4. M says:

    I’m literally becoming rich partially so I can take on the world. Let’s be the difference we want to see guys!

  5. Girl_ninja says:

    I don’t know if people realize that giving to these HBCUs will be transformative. What an amazing gift, what an amazing woman. Meanwhile Jeff Lex Luthor Bezos is figuring out how to pay less towards health insurance for Whole Foods employees and curling up with his Joker looking girlfriend.

    • OriginalLeigh says:

      Where does it say that she donated to HBCUs?

      She has donated to great causes. Kudos!

      • lza says:

        In the medium post, she listed some of the orgs. Morehouse, Hampton, and Howard all received gifts.

      • liz says:

        $40 million to Howard, $30 to Hampton, $20 each to Tuskegee & Xavier. Morehouse & Spelman also got gifts but didn’t publicize the amounts (also believed to be eight figures).

  6. Also Ali says:

    I have no idea why it matters to me but I like that she changed her last name.

    So good to have this story of generosity after so many others about how there is no money to support struggling workers/families/children.

  7. ClaireB says:

    Thank you for covering this! I saw it last night and thought that maybe there’s a little good in the world after all! Maybe this will shame Jeff Bezos into actually paying his own damn workers enough to live on and giving them breaks? Maybe he could even look into hiring a few more, enough to do the work so they’re not all getting ulcers and committing suicide trying to fill prime orders.

  8. duchess of hazard says:

    Good on her, honestly. These contributions will change lives.

  9. Case says:

    That’s truly wonderful. No one should have THAT much wealth and so it’s great that she’s giving back to those in need.

  10. alexc says:

    People with this kind of surreal wealth need to give most of it away. Personally I think it’s a moral issue. No one human being or family should have this kind of money. I have several clients who are billionaires and you can only spend so much, especially when there’s unlimited opportunities to do good with it.

    • Yup, Me says:

      Exactly this. It’s obscene for anyone to have that much money. It’s good she’s giving so much away. Bozo needs to do the same and more.

  11. anneliser says:

    I work in the nonprofit sector, and I was so impressed by how she went about this. She hired people to research charities in various sectors and is making large, high-impact gifts after doing her homework and assuring she is supporting high-quality organizations. Smart and classy!

    • Vera says:

      That sounds smart and the best way to go, I would do the same if I had her money.

    • Lucy2 says:

      Good to hear! I think she will continue to be a force for good in the world and use that money wisely.

      I’d rather the billionaires and the corporations got taxed properly so we didn’t need philanthropists to save the day, but until that happens, I’m glad she’s one of them. Her ex-husband needs to step it up too. He’s made billions in just the last few months, while people are struggling so much.

  12. Jay says:

    Good for her! I often fantasize about what it would be like to be able to support all of the good work I see. Yay Mackenzie Scott!

    And lol to how salty the British media gonna be if the Duchess of Sussex ever does an event with her. Here, I’ll prewrite the headline: “Two American divorcees who struck it rich drop billions on feminist causes while living lavish, jetsetter lifestyles”

  13. Noki says:

    Whoohooo Tanzania my country, good for her.

  14. kimberlu says:

    she’s awesome!! I don’t support Amazon for community econ reasons like it being the walmart of the internet, not paying proper taxes that help support our country, their lack of decency in the way they treat their employees …. sooo many reasons….but really happy this magnificent woman knows that the world needs help and offers some.

  15. Zantasia says:

    Most of his (Beso’s) and her (Scott’s) wealth is not liquid, it is part of the business. They are limited to selling at certain times, planned ahead, to avoid insider trading. I’m so so so curious what amount of money he and she actually have access to on any given day.

    I am so impressed by her.

  16. AprilMay says:

    Meghans not their patron though. Her and Harry did an event with them on their tour to South Africa but she has no formal links to them

    • notasugarhere says:

      She has done repeated work with them, which she now does on her own instead of as royal patron.

  17. emmy says:

    It’s better than spending it on Birkins but I can’t applaud the uber rich for this anymore. She only made that much because of horrid business practices. If entrepreneurs treated employees like human beings, many charities would be superfluous.

  18. Amelie says:

    Wow! Good for her! It is very notable that her ex-husband has NOT signed the Giving Pledge but people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Mike Bloomberg, Richard Branson, Diane von Furstenberg, Larry Ellison, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg all have. I saw this last night and was so impressed at her announcement and also how she went about deciding which charities she would donate to. She clearly understands being one of the wealthiest women in the world comes with a great moral responsibility and she intends to do good with it. She is also setting a great example for her kids, I can’t say Jeff is doing the same. From what I understand, he is pouring all his money into Blue Origin and space travel. Their divorce could have been sooooo messy because neither of them signed a prenup when they got married. Jeff hadn’t founded Amazon yet and was basically a nobody. But she hasn’t trash-talked her ex at all, so classy. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

  19. JRenee says:

    Kudos!

  20. BC says:

    I want to be this rich and impactful. What a woman! Go go go!