Evan Agostini/Invision/Associated Press
- MacKenzie Scott’s made a $133.5 million donation to Communities in School to help disadvantaged students.
- Scott is worth about $47 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
- She has signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give her wealth away “until the safe is empty.”
MacKenzie Scott donated $133.5 million to education nonprofit Communities in Schools (CIS) as she continues to pull ahead of ex-husband Jeff Bezos in her charitable giving.
CIS announced the donation on Thursday, calling the gift “transformative.”
“At a time when the global pandemic has particularly hurt students with fewer community resources or adequate supports, this investment will help CIS to carry out its mission to break down the systemic barriers that stand in the way of opportunity and student success,” the organization said in a press release.
Scott’s gift is the largest unrestricted donation in the charity’s history, it added.
Rey Saldaña, the charity’s president and CEO told “CBS Mornings” that he was overwhelmed by the generosity. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because you think about all of the work that you can do,” said Saldaña, per the network.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Scott is worth about $47 billion and has signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give her wealth away “until the safe is empty.”
Her fortune has grown since she divorced Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2019 after 25 years of marriage. She received a 4% stake in the company in the couple’s divorce settlement, and Amazon shares have soared since their split.
In June last year, she announced $2.7 billion in donations to 286 organizations in categories and communities “that have been historically underfunded and overlooked.” They included arts and cultural institutions, as well as organizations supporting community engagement, according to Scott’s blog post at the time. She didn’t disclose specific amounts.
Scott, 51, has donated more than $8.6 billion of her wealth — that’s about four times more than her ex-husband Jeff Bezos, whose lifetime giving stands at $2.1 billion, according to a Forbes compilation published on January 19.
Bezos, 58, is currently the world’s third-richest person with a net worth of $164 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He has been criticised for not donating more of his immense wealth, Insider’s Paige Leskin reported in March 2020.
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