MacKenzie Scott Gives
Away $4.2 Billion in Four Months
By Sophie Alexander and Ben Steverman
December 15, 2020, 5:44 PM GMT Updated on December 15, 2020,
8:21 PM GMT
MacKenzie Scott is giving away her fortune at an
unprecedented pace, donating more than $4 billion in four months after
announcing $1.7 billion in gifts in July.
The world’s 18th-richest person outlined the latest
contributions in a blog post Tuesday, saying she asked her team to figure out
how to give away her fortune faster. Scott’s wealth has climbed $23.6 billion
this year to $60.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as
Amazon.com Inc., the primary source of her fortune, has surged.
“This pandemic has
been a wrecking ball in the lives of Americans already struggling,” she wrote
in the post on Medium. “Economic losses and health outcomes alike have been
worse for women, for people of color and for people living in poverty. Meanwhile,
it has substantially increased the wealth of billionaires.”
Scott’s gifts this year approach $6 billion, which “has to
be one of the biggest annual distributions by a living individual” to working
charities, according to Melissa Berman, chief executive officer of Rockefeller
Philanthropy Advisors.
Berman said Scott’s donations show that it’s possible to
give large amounts quickly without requiring nonprofits to “jump through a lot
of hoops to get the money.” The size of Scott’s gifts may also disprove a
common theory that’s it’s hard to deploy vast amounts of money without running
into trouble or proving wasteful.
Sharing Results
Scott’s advisers zeroed-in on 384 groups to receive gifts,
she said in the post, after considering almost 6,500 organizations. Donations
were focused on those “operating in communities facing high projected food
insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates, and low
access to philanthropic capital.”
Recipients include more than 30 institutions of higher
education, including several tribal colleges and historically Black colleges
and universities. More than 40 food banks received money, as did almost four
dozen local affiliates of Goodwill Industries International.
Scott King, the executive director for Meals on Wheels of
Tampa, said he didn’t even apply for the grant they received. Instead, her team
contacted the nonprofit, which delivers food to about 850 homes and makes about
2,600 meals each day.
“This comes at a great 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 it received $10 million, equivalent to the size of their annual operating
budget. It’s a show of how powerful Scott’s enormous fortune is, especially
when she decides to give to smaller organizations.
“It’s an amazing day at the end of what’s been a very
challenging year,” said Biemann, whose nonprofit provides financing and advice
to small businesses and entrepreneurs, especially those from rural areas or
disadvantaged groups.
Scott listed the names of the groups that received the
money, just as she did for the 116 organizations in her July letter. In her
announcement this summer, Scott said she decided to make the gifts public in
part to call attention to “organizations and leaders driving change.”
Philanthropy experts applauded Scott’s work not only for how
quickly she’s given away her fortune, but also how she’s gone about it.
“She shares the results of her research and criteria so that
donors of all levels can learn about organizations that are particularly worthy
of support,” said Boston College law professor Ray Madoff.
Madoff is part of a coalition of academics, large foundations
and billionaire donors urging reform of U.S. philanthropic rules. More than $1
trillion sits in foundations and donor-advised funds that could be unlocked for
charity, the group argues.
“I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” she
wrote in her pledge. “My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful.
It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it
until the safe is empty.”
This year has also been an active year for Bezos’s
philanthropy. In February, he committed $10 billion to issues related to
climate change and last month announced the first of those grants, totaling
nearly $800 million to 16 groups. He also disclosed another round of grants for
his Day One Fund, giving away more than $100 million to 42 organizations that
combat family homelessness.
Bezos, 56, kept three-quarters of the couple’s Amazon shares
in the divorce, maintaining his status as the world’s richest person with a
fortune of $185 billion, according to the Bloomberg index. His net worth has
increased $70 billion this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment