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“These 286 teams were selected through a rigorous process of research and analysis,” Scott says.
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
MacKenzie Scott, the philanthropist and ex-spouse of Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos, announced a new round of donations Tuesday, totaling some $2.7 billion to 286 organizations around the U.S. She detailed her thought process and the list of recipients in a Medium blog post.
“Sitting down to write this post, I felt stuck,” Scott writes. “I want to de-emphasize privileged voices and cede focus to others, yet I know some media stories will focus on wealth.” (Duly noted by us here at Forbes.) By our estimate, Scott’s fortune—after distributing the latest gifts—stands at $57 billion as of 10:30 am ET, which makes her the 22nd richest person in the world.
Scott says she wished she could have titled her post “286 Teams Empowering Voices the World Needs to Hear,” because she and her team are “attempting to give away a fortune that was enabled by systems in need of change.” With that, Scott jumps into the billionaire debate that’s long simmered amid recent explosive reporting by ProPublica revealing that the world’s richest—including her ex-husband—pay very little in taxes relative to their wealth.
“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,” Scott writes. She says she focused her latest donations on higher education, groups bridging divides through interfaith support, arts and culture, anti-poverty organizations led by people of color and grassroots groups supporting local communities.
Among the 286 groups receiving funds: the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Children’s Defense Fund, the Decolonizing Wealth Project, Donors Choose, Homeboy Industries, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the National Council of Nonprofits, Rockefeller Philanthropy Associates and numerous colleges and universities.
Tuesday marks Scott’s third major round of donations. By Forbes’ estimate, she gave away nearly $6 billion in 2020 to 500 organizations. Scott is also a signee of the Giving Pledge, promising to give away half of her fortune to charitable causes during her lifetime, or after her death.