While most billionaires are being questioned for their lack of philanthropy in these tough times. The recent news of MacKenzie Scott’s charity has come as a pleasant surprise.
The 13th richest person in the world and the former spouse of Jeff Bezos, Mackenzie said that she has donated $1.7 billion to 116 organisations that work for causes like LGBTQIA+ equity, racial equity, climate change and public health.
This novelists fortune worth $59.3 billion is derived from her 4% stake in Amazon.com Inc. Soon after her divorce, she signed The Giving Pledge to donate the wealth she acquired and give back to the world, over her lifetime “until the safe is empty.”
On this list, 91% of the racial equity organizations are run by leaders of color, 100% of the LGBTQ+ equity organizations are run by LGBTQ+ leaders, and 83% of the gender equity organizations are run by women, bringing lived experience to solutions for imbalanced social systems.
In 2014, she founded the anti-bullying organisation, Bystander Revolution and now, six years later, she is putting back all her money into the system to make the world a better place. According to her blog post these organisations have given her, “an opportunity to invest our good fortune in change, no matter what form our good fortune has taken.”
It is heartwarming to see people in positions of power become a part of the change. Even though she was heavily criticised for acquiring a percentage of the stake in divorce, her motives with the money sure put her ahead of the rest.