Jeff Bezos' Ex-Wife MacKenzie Scott Donates $2.7 Billion to Help End 'Disproportionate Wealth' Systems

MacKenzie Scott is continuing to donate her fortune to charities.

On Tuesday (June 15), the 51-year-old ex-wife of Jeff Bezos announced that she and her new husband Dan Jewett have donated $2.7 billion to 286 underfunded organizations, universities, arts and culture organizations, refugee settlement groups, police reform programs, LGBTQ organizations, and more.

In her announcement, MacKenzie is encouraging other wealthy individuals to also donate to help address wealth inequalities.

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“People struggling against inequities deserve center stage in stories about change they are creating,” MacKenzie wrote on Medium. “Any wealth is a product of a collective effort that included them. The social structures that inflate wealth present obstacles to them. And despite those obstacles, they are providing solutions that benefit us all.”

“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,” MacKenzie said, referring to her $59.7 billion net worth. “In this effort, we are governed by a humbling belief that it would be better if disproportionate wealth were not concentrated in a small number of hands, and that the solutions are best designed and implemented by others.”

MacKenzie continued, “We spent the first quarter of 2021 identifying and evaluating equity-oriented non-profit teams working in areas that have been neglected. The result was $2,739,000,000 in gifts to 286 high-impact organizations in categories and communities that have been historically underfunded and overlooked.”

MacKenzie also spoke about “extreme poverty” and how it disproportionately affects people of color and women.

“Over 700 million people globally still live in extreme poverty,” MacKenzie wrote. “To find solutions, we all benefit from on-the-ground insights and diverse engagement, so we prioritized organizations with local teams, leaders of color, and a specific focus on empowering women and girls.”

Mackenzie then encouraged others to also donate to organizations like these.

“We chose to make relatively large gifts to the organizations…both to enable their work, and as a signal of trust and encouragement, to them and to others,” MacKenzie wrote. “Would they still benefit from more (more advocates, more money, more volunteers)? Yes.”

MacKenzie‘s latest donation comes several months after she announced that she donated $4.2 billion to 384 organizations in 2020.

Find out how much money MacKenzie got in her divorce from Jeff.