Like the $4 billion Scott gave to 384 organizations in the last four months of 2020, the donations are unrestricted, so recipients can use the money as they see fit. A representative for MacKenzie Scottcurrently the worlds 19th richest person with a net worth of $59 billionhad a message to deliver. In December 2021, Scott briefly tried to withdraw even further from the limelight, and announced that she would let her recipients announce her gifts themselves. MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is giving away her $46 billion fortune faster than anyone in history. Editor's note: Updated on Feb. 28, 2022 to include a donation to the Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife. To date, Scott has committed $586.7 million in support of efforts to advance racial equity; $46 million to advance LGBTQ+ equity; $133 million to advance gender equity; $399.5 million to improve economic mobility in the United States; $55 million to help build empathy and bridge divides; $72 million in support of efforts to create a "functional democracy"; $128.3 million for public health initiatives; $130 million in support of global development; and $125 million to address climate change. Were in this very polarized time where there is tremendous, you could say obscene, wealth held among these very elite individuals, said Elizabeth Dale, a professor specializing in philanthropy at Seattle University. In a break from the way many foundations operate, Ms. Scott said her gifts were not earmarked for specific programs. Though her net worth now exceeds the value of the endowment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest charity in the world, Ms. Scott has shown no interest in developing that kind of formal structure around her giving. But a new Bloomberg report makes excellent use of a visual timeline to provide some perspective on just how much more generous Scott has been with her money compared to her ex-husband Jeff Bezos: Since their divorcein 2019, shes become one of themost consequential philanthropists of her generation. If you want to have a leading voice in addressing inequality, you have to address Amazons profit maximization in the private sector.. Image Credit: Instagram MacKenzie Scott Foundation Website The unrestricted grants offered organizations space to learn and experiment lessons that can be shared to uplift an entire field. She has not been transparent either about the vehicles being used for philanthropy or about the process, said Mr. Reich of Stanfords Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. Today, they are worth about $62 billion, although its unclear how many of the shares Ms. Scott still holds. Unrestricted large grants help push the global development field forward with opportunity for increased growth, sustainability, and innovation. All Rights Reserved, By submitting your email, you agree to our. Metropolitan Chicago. The organizations invested in their sustainability put the grants toward areas such as programmatic innovation, operations and infrastructure, reserves, salaries, new recruitment, and staff and leadership development. Please Note: We are NOT MacKenzie Scott or Dan Jewett. FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. All Rights Reserved. Her main expression of that critique is giving away so much money so quickly, and supporting so many bottom-up organizations, Mr. Callahan said. What do we think they might do with more cash on hand than they expected? 26 Feb Feb But now Scott, who is also an author and the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has announced in . Organizations where person(s) are excluded from employment, volunteer participation, or agency services because of age, gender, race, national origin, religious beliefs and background, physical abilities, disability, sexual orientation, economic circumstances, and any other characteristic protected by law. By disbursing her money quickly and without much hoopla, Ms. Scott has pushed the focus away from the giver and onto the nonprofits she is trying to help. In February alone, nine organizations announced gifts from Scott totaling $264.5 million. Get some sleep," Scott suggested. Saying that she's troubled by the increasing concentration of wealth, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott says she is giving away another $2.7 billion of her fortune to 286 nonprofit organizations. Recognizes the positive impact of diversity to improve lives in our community. Scott also announced that she has made a recent decision to invite recipients to share details of the gift, if they desire, before she shares recipients names and that her team is in the process of designing a website that will detail the recipients. A large, unrestricted grant can shift an organizations position providing greater visibility, more opportunities to influence the fields direction, and greater legitimacy with donors. Her net worth, which Forbes estimates at $60 billion, keeps rising, thanks to Amazon stock. The business was teetering on the brink. A base of community and financial support. The choices, experiences, and reflections of Scotts global grant recipients provide valuable insights to understand where global development aid has fallen short and how to improve philanthropy in order to advance systems change. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice| Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information| Ad Choices She has swiftly followed through, and by 2021 had become the third most generous U.S. philanthropist on paper. Yield Givings website doesnt include any sort of contact information, and a page on Inquiries politely discourages what must be a deluge of informal pitches from anyone who knows anyone who knows Scott. Additionally, the National 4-H Council, an agriculturally focused youth organization, received $50 million. Her latest round on June 15 was $2.7 billion distributed to 286 groups. (In practical terms, shes even more impressive: Last years second-biggest donor to charity, Elon Musk, directed his $5.7 billion donation in Tesla shares to his personal foundation, reaping a tax benefit without distributing much of the money to charity, tax records show.). Many donors of large amounts have specific instructions for how they want charities to use their funds. In a recent analysis, we looked at the characteristics of the December cohort, which totaled $4.2 billion to 384 nonprofits. As gestures of transparency, she released lists of recipient organizations in July and in December. The article also notes that Bezos and Scott tend to differ in how they donate their money. However long it takes to become reality, the promised application process marks an intriguing strategy shift for Scottand an apparent response to some of the criticisms she has faced. But shares of the company's stock rose sharply during the pandemic, and despite giving away billions, Scott's wealth keeps growing. She was behind the wheel when she and Mr. Bezos drove to Seattle to start an online bookstore named after a Brazilian river. By enabling organizations to explore power dynamics, redefine scale in a way that empowers communities, and invest in organizational resilience and sustainability, funders can support them to chart new terrain and advance systems change across global development. Scott is a signee of the Giving Pledge, a promise made by billionaires to give away half of their wealth in their lifetimes or after their deaths. Another education nonprofit, Leading Educators, got $10 million to provide professional development for teachers. Me, Dan, a constellation of researchers and administrators and advisors we are all attempting to give away a fortune that was enabled by systems in need of change, she wrote. Now, for the third time in under a year, Ms. Scott has announced a new round of grants, worth a combined $2.74 billion, demonstrating that her dedication to rapidly disbursing her fortune has not abated. The development community can learn about how to fund internationally from the choices, questions, and experiences of Scott grant recipients. For example, at national organizations with many affiliates across the country, she has funded some affiliates but not otherswithout asking those nonprofits for inputoccasionally creating internal difficulties and confusion for her recipients. They are sworn to secrecy at first but are allowed to talk about the money once Ms. Scotts latest letter is posted. The pilot cohort, which ran from May to November 2022, included 22 global development and human rights organizations based in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the U.S. "Though we still have a lot to learn about how to act on these beliefs without contradicting and subverting them, we can begin by acknowledging that people working to build power from within communities are the agents of change. MacKenzie Scott seems to be nonresponsive to traditional approaches (there is no application process) and operates much more like a Donor Advised Fund (DAF). This is why Panorama Globallaunched the Collaborative Learning from Impact Philanthropy, CLIP, initiative, which includes several peer learning cohorts designed for Scott grant recipients at their request. That allows their endowments to keep growing and the foundations to survive in perpetuity, and some foundations argue that it allows them to take the time to make grants that will yield the best results. I was quite emotional. During the Covid-19 pandemic, MacKenzie Scott accompanied three rounds of billion-dollar donations to hundreds of organizations with separate announcements elaborating on her philanthropic approach. Morgan State is one of about 780 organizations to receive part of the $8.5 billion given away by Scott in three rounds since July 2020. Scott says that she and her organization spent the first quarter of 2021 identifying and researching equity-oriented nonprofit organizations working in neglected and underfunded areas. Over the past nine months, Scott has awarded grants to 465 nonprofits. Ms. Scotts team recently sent out hundreds of out-of-the-blue emails to charities, notifying them of an incoming gift. She seems to have a handle on how to do the most good as directly as possible. But she is not using a foundation. It's not only a significant moment for myself, but it's a moment for BIPOC-led and BIPOC-serving art institutions at a time when we have been devastated by the pandemic, she says. The purpose of the Grants Process is to accomplish the mission of the Foundation through innovative and effective grantmaking and stewardship in a way that: All organizations applying for Foundation funds must be able to demonstrate the following organizational characteristics: Copyright 2014 - McKenzie Foundation - All rights reserved. Saying that she's troubled by the increasing concentration of wealth, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott says she is giving away another $2.7 billion of her fortune to 286 nonprofit organizations.. On a Monday evening in November, Dorri McWhorter, the chief executive of the Y.W.C.A. Editor's note: Updated on Feb. 15, 2022 to include a donation to Leading Educators. Whereas multibillion foundations like Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have fancy headquarters, Ms. Scotts operation has no known address or even website. An infusion of $15 million from Scottthe largest single donation in Accions 27 year historywas immediately put to work in a Covid relief fund. By Alexandra Hutzler Newsweek. Women-led, Black women-led organizations tend to be at the very bottom of the pile for philanthropists, Ms. McWhorter said. / Sign up for Verge Deals to get deals on products we've tested sent to your inbox daily. MacKenzie Scott Announces $4.2 Billion More in Charitable Giving "She's disrupting the norms around billionaire philanthropy by moving quickly," an expert on charities said. Otherwise, the windfall gift can take the limelight, shifting the prevailing narrative to become that these organizations no longer need donor funding, which is problematic and erroneous. Dia DipasupilGetty Images MacKenzie Scott, the reclusive billionaire who has in three. November 2023 meeting - applications close on the 27th of October 2023. Like Urrutia, Favianna Rodriguez is working to aid communities of color. Ms. Scott made that pledge in 2019, after her divorce from Jeff Bezos. She thought she had found her lifes calling, but says there were a lack of opportunities. A gift like this for a nonprofit is equivalent to a billion dollars.. And while that rate is breaking records, Scott needs her giving machine to work faster, because the stock she holds in Amazon has rocketed in value from $23.6 billion this year to $60.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index . While many donors want scale, few offer space to experiment and learn or to deepen community impact. Money was tight. In each post, Scott includes a short essay explaining her view on philanthropy alongside the list of groups receiving funds. Thanks to the soaring value of that stock, Ms. Scott is accumulating wealth faster than she can give it away. Scott alluded to her thinking behind helping groups helping others in her latest Medium post, writing, We believe that teams with experience on the front lines of challenges will know best how to put the money to good use. Ultimately, Urrutia says, Scotts philanthropy sends the message that you and your team know how to best deploy the dollars.. Scotts operations have been largely shrouded in secrecy: A writer who calls herself a private person, she and her team refuse all interview requests. My hope is that MacKenzies style of giving inspires the philanthropic sector, and inspires other donors to give in a way that supports bold, big visions, she added. Many of the cohort organizations experiencedrapid growth related to the grant, which in some cases was accompanied by growing pains and staff burnout. 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