MacKenzie Scott, who has made a habit of surprise philanthropic donations, just said she has donated more than $3.8 billion to 465 nonprofits since last June.
In a Medium post on Wednesday, the world’s 22nd-richest person and the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos listed her latest recipients, mostly underrepresented people. To date, she has given away more than $12 billion in four rounds of funding.
Despite that, her net worth is still valued at nearly $56 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index.
“When our giving team focuses on any system in which people are struggling, we don’t assume that we, or any other single group, can know how to fix it,” Scott wrote. “We don’t advocate for particular policies or reforms. Instead, we seek a portfolio of organizations that supports the ability of all people to participate in solutions.”
Roughly 60% of the organizations receiving donations in this tranche are led by women, Scott noted. And 75% are led by people who live in the regions they support and have personal knowledge of the issues they hope to address.
Scott is one of several multibillionaires who has signed the Giving Pledge, with a commitment to give away half of their fortune to charity.
“The universal tendency to shout is an ironic reminder of how much we all have in common, as well as encouraging evidence that we have what we need to solve our shared problems,” she said. “It’s as if the antidote is right there waiting in all that venom. We are all human. And we all have enormous energy to devote to helping and protecting those we love. It’s easy to think of different groups struggling within the same systems as not only separate, but also opposing. Yet when we help one group, we often help them all.”
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