MacKenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos' Ex-Wife, Reveals $4 Billion Donations: Here's Where She Gave Her Money

Mackenzie Scott announced Wednesday that since June, she had donated more than $3.8 billion to 465 non-profit organizations.

Scott said her team's focus over the last nine months continued to be helping underrepresented people from various backgrounds and communities. The billionaire philanthropist gave money to Planned Parenthood locations across the United States, as well as to organizations that help at-risk children, minorities, refugees, and rural health access, according to CNN.

Scott, the ex-wife of the richest person in the world and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, recently gave $436 million to Habitat for Humanity - her largest known donation to date - and $133.5 million to educational nonprofit Communities in School, according to previous statements from the organizations.

Scott wrote in the post that when her team focuses on any system in which people are struggling, they do not assume that they know how to fix it; instead, they "seek a portfolio of organizations" that supports everyone's ability to participate in solutions.

With an estimated net worth of $55 billion reported by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Scott is well-known for her philanthropic behaviors and unexpected donations to organizations.

Scott signed the Giving Pledge in 2019, a non-binding agreement launched for billionaires to promise to donate more than half their wealth.

The 51-year-old mother of four has handed away almost $12 billion of her personal wealth in four rounds, according to Forbes.

Scott's Donation Provides Affordable Housing for Minorities

According to Habitat for Humanity International chief executive Jonathan Reckford, they are overjoyed to get the gift at a time when housing affordability is "the worst that it has been in modern times."

The group received $25M from Scott and her current husband, Dan Jewett, with the remaining $411M to be distributed among local affiliates.

Scott's donation amounts to nearly 8% of the $325M in donations Habitat for Humanity International received in the fiscal year 202, according to The Guardian.

Reckford said their organization will use the donation of unrestricted funds to increase the supply of affordable housing, especially in communities of color.

Though they approach the problem in varying ways, most local affiliates will focus on projects in their communities, while the international group pursues broader advocacy and initiatives to create homes for working-class families.

Even before COVID-19, one out of every seven households was spending more than half of their income on rent or mortgage alone, said Reckford.

The problem has gotten worse in the previous two years, with many people seeking to acquire larger houses in order to weather the pandemic. Housing shortages pushed up prices in many markets across the US, making homes out of reach for many first-time buyers.

Scott Declines to Reveal Donations in Hopes of Reducing Public Attention

Aside from an occasional blog post, the author and philanthropist does not talk about her donations, which exceeded $8B in two years after her divorce from Jeff Bezos. As part of the divorce settlement, Scott received 4% of Amazon's shares.

Scott declined to say how much she donated or to whom she donated money in December, in the hopes of reducing the amount of attention she draws. She stated she would rather let the beneficiaries publicize her gifts, which Habitat for Humanity did.

Last week, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America revealed that it and 62 local affiliates had received $281M from Scott. She then contributed $10M on Monday to the Fortune Society, a New York-based group that assists the formerly jailed re-enter society.

Scott has explained in blogs that she and Jewett donated $2.7B in the first half of 2021 to "equity-oriented non-profit teams working in areas that have been neglected".

Though Habitat for Humanity is best known for building houses, the organization, which was founded in 1976, claims to have worked for many years toward "a world where everyone has a decent place to live."

Scott ended her Medium post on Monday with: "Helping any of us can help us all."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: Mackenzie Scott Makes Another Multi-Billion Dollar Round Of Donations