MacKenzie Scott Donates $1.7 Billion To Causes Supporting Women And LGBTQ Rights

MacKenzie Scott has donated nearly $1.7 billion to various charity causes. The ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, on Tuesday, fulfilled her promises to give away her money “until the safe is empty” one year back and has distributed a massive amount within a month to causes supporting women, race, gender, and economic equality.

Scott (who changed her surname after the high-profile divorce) has been giving out donations to more than 100 nonprofits since she received a whopping $36 billion in the world’s biggest divorce settlement, according to the NY Times. She received four percent of Amazon’s shares. "I gave each a contribution and encouraged them to spend it on whatever they believe best serves their efforts," said Scott in a Medium post. She is now the world’s 13th-richest person after her divorce last year from Bezos.

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"Every one of them is tackling complex challenges that will require sustained effort over many years, while simultaneously addressing consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic," hailed the novelist and venture philanthropist who has made donations to a list of institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities as well as organisations that support women’s rights.

What You Should Know

• MacKenzie Scott is the world’s 13th-richest person with $59.3 billion fortune that derives from a four percent stake in Amazon.com Inc.
• Last year she had pledged to give away her money “until the safe is empty”.
• Scott, who formerly went by the name MacKenzie Bezos, is the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
• She is supporting organisations that work for women’s rights, LGBTQ equality, and efforts to fight climate change and racial inequities

Scott and Bezos, the world's richest man, were married for 25 years. Scott is estimated to have received over $36 billion in her divorce settlement and is the fourth-richest woman in the world, according to Forbes. Her net worth is currently estimated to be around $60 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index. The 50-year-old went to Princeton and pursued a career as a writer even as she helped Bezos start his business from a garage. They met at a New York hedge fund and got into a relationship, but all that ending after a long journey together.

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"Like many, I watched the first half of 2020 with a mixture of heartbreak and horror," Scott said. "Life will never stop finding fresh ways to expose inequities in our systems; or waking us up to the fact that a civilization this imbalanced is not only unjust, but also unstable."

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

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