MacKenzie Scott signed the Giving Pledge in 2019, promising to give away most of his fortune.
Photographer: Evan Agostini / Invision / AP
Photographer: Evan Agostini / Invision / AP
MacKenzie Scott gives away his fortune at an unprecedented rate, giving more than $ 4 billion in four months after announcing $ 1.7 billion gifts in July.
The world’s richest person in the 18th sketched out the latest contributions in a blog post on Tuesday, saying he asked his team to find out how to give away his fortune faster. Scott’s wealth has risen $ 23.6 billion this year to $ 60.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, like Amazon.com Inc., the main source of its fortune, has risen.
“This pandemic has been a devastating ball in the lives of Americans who were already in trouble,” he wrote in publication in the middle. “Economic losses and health outcomes have been worse for women, for people of color and for people living in poverty. In the meantime, it has substantially increased the wealth of billionaires. “
Scott’s gifts this year are close to $ 6 billion, which “must be one of the largest annual distributions by a living individual” to working charities, according to Melissa Berman, executive director of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
Berman said Scott’s donations show that it is possible to donate large amounts quickly without the need for nonprofits to “jump through many hoops to get the money.” The size of Scott’s gifts also belies a common theory that it is difficult to deploy large amounts of money without having problems or being useless.
Share results
Scott’s advisers focused on 384 groups to receive gifts, he said in the post, after considering nearly 6,500 organizations. The donations focused on those people who “operate in communities that face a high forecast of food insecurity, high measures of racial inequality, high rates of local poverty and little access to philanthropic capital.”
Recipients include more than 30 higher education institutions, including several tribal colleges and historically black universities and colleges. More than 40 food banks received money, as did nearly four dozen local affiliates of Goodwill Industries International.
Scott King, the executive director of Meals on Wheels of Tampa, said he didn’t even apply for the grant they received. Instead, his team contacted the nonprofit, which distributes food to about 850 households and makes about 2,600 meals each day.
“This comes at a good time for us,” he said. “There are areas in and around Tampa that aren’t being served and need to be.”
Betsy Biemann, CEO of Maine-based Coastal Enterprises Inc., said she received $ 10 million, equivalent to the size of her annual operating budget. It’s a demonstration of Scott’s enormous fortune, especially when he decides to donate to smaller organizations.
“It’s an amazing day at the end of what has been a very challenging year,” said Biemann, whose nonprofit organization provides funding and advice to small businesses and entrepreneurs, especially those in rural areas or disadvantaged groups.
Scott listed the names of the groups that received the money, as he did for the 116 organizations in his July letter. In his announcement this summer, Scott said he decided to make the gifts public in part to draw attention to “the organizations and leaders driving change.”
Philanthropy experts applauded Scott’s work, not only for the speed with which he bestowed his fortune, but also for the way he has done it.
“He shares the results of his research and criteria so that donors at all levels can get to know organizations that are especially supportive,” said Ray Madoff, a law professor at Boston College.
Madoff is part of a coalition of academics, large foundations, and multimillion-dollar donors urging reform of U.S. philanthropic norms. More than The group argues that $ 1 trillion is in donor-advised foundations and funds that could be unlocked for charity.
Give a pledge
Scott, 50, who was previously married to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, signed the Giving Pledge in 2019, promising to give away most of his fortune.
“I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” he said he wrote to his promise. “My approach to philanthropy will continue to be reflective. It will take time, effort and care. But I will not wait. And I will keep going until the safe is empty. “
This year has also been an active year for Bezos philanthropy. In February, it committed $ 10 billion to climate change-related issues and last month announced the first of those grants, which totaled nearly $ 800 million to 16 groups. It also unveiled another round of grants for its Day One Fund, which donated more than $ 100 million to 42 organizations fighting family homelessness.
Bezos, 56, held three-quarters of Amazon’s shares in the divorce, maintaining his status as the world’s richest person with a fortune of $ 185 billion, according to the Bloomberg index. Its net worth has increased by $ 70 billion this year.
(Updates with recipient comments in the eighth paragraph.)