MacKenzie Scott donates $640M, more than doubling initial pledge

Billionaire philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott is donating over half a billion dollars to hundreds of nonprofit organizations, more than doubling her initial pledge in an open call asking groups to apply.

After combing through more than 6,000 responses, Scott announced Tuesday on her Yield Giving website that she had given $640 million to 361 small nonprofits. She expressed gratitude to the group that helped organize the process and vet the applicants.

“[I’m] Grateful to Lever for Change and everyone on the evaluation and implementation teams for their roles in creating this pathway to support for people working to improve access to foundational resources in their communities,” Scott said. “They are vital agents of change.”

Many of the organizations benefiting from this latest donation are involved in issues like women’s rights, education, racial equality, gender equality, economic mobility, housing development and more. To qualify for the grants, nonprofits had to have an annual operating budget between $1 million and $5 million.

Since becoming one of the richest women in the world after her 2019 divorce settlement with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Scott has pledged to give away a substantial portion of her wealth. According to her website, she has donated more than $17 billion to over 2,300 nonprofit organizations.

By Scripps News.