MacKenzie Scott has given away $2.7 billion to nearly 300 nonprofits in 2021.- Scott, a philanthropist and
Jeff Bezos ' ex-wife, has gifted over $8 billion in recent years. - She is one of the richest people, with a $60 billion net worth.
MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of
Scott said she had given away $2.74 billion to 286 "high-impact organizations in categories and communities that have historically been underfunded and overlooked." Scott has emerged as a philanthropic powerhouse since her divorce from Bezos in 2019, especially in the past year.
In July, Scott announced she had donated $1.7 billion of her wealth to 116 organizations in the previous year. In December, she said she had donated another $4.2 billion to 384 organizations in the past four months. This latest round of philanthropy announced Tuesday brings her total donations made public since July to about $8.5 billion.
Scott's separation from her e-commerce tycoon husband left her with a 4% stake in Amazon and immediately made her one of the wealthiest people. Her net worth of $59.8 billion earns her the 22nd spot on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In Tuesday's blog post, Scott said her giving stemmed from a desire to distribute wealth to nonprofits that strengthen communities like two- and four-year higher-education institutions, arts and cultural institutions, and community-engagement organizations.
"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," Scott said. "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."