Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife donated more than $26 billion to charity

In a post on her personal page in the middle of this month, MacKenzie Scott (55 years old) – the ex-wife of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos – said that this year, she has donated 7.17 billion USD to 225 organizations. This brings the total amount she has given away since 2019 to $26.3 billion.

Donations are distributed to many non-profit organizations. Among them, there are a number of colleges and universities for people of color, organizations that focus on addressing issues such as poverty, social injustice and climate change.

“This amount of money may be mentioned in the news. But no matter how big, it is only a very small part compared to the acts of caring and sharing between people,” Scott wrote on his personal page.

Theo Forbeswith 26.3 billion USD, Scott is second only to two other billionaires, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, in the total amount of money given to charity during his life. This magazine currently estimates Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife’s assets are about $29.9 billion. She became one of the richest women in the world after divorcing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2019, and received 4% of the company’s shares.

After their divorce, Scott signed the Giving Pledge, to donate the majority of his assets to charity. Since then, she has regularly been included in lists of the world’s most generous billionaires. She assigned a team of consultants to accelerate philanthropy, by identifying “organizations with strong and effective leadership teams” in many fields.

Mackenzie Scott wants to give “particular attention to organizations working in communities facing high risk of food insecurity, large racial inequities, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic funding.”

In an article in mid-month, Scott cited data from Giving USA, saying Americans donated more than 590 billion USD to charity in 2024. However, she said that most charitable activities in the US – whether monetary or other forms – still take place on a relatively small scale.

She also gave examples of times she was helped before becoming rich, thereby inspiring her later charitable activities. It was a local dentist who treated her tooth for free when he saw her using denture glue to fix her broken tooth in college. A roommate at Princeton University lent Scott $1,000 when he saw her crying, so she wouldn’t have to drop out of college her second year.

Scott follows in the footsteps of other prominent philanthropists in adopting an “impact investing” strategy. She pours money into foundations and companies that provide solutions to social problems, then takes the profits and donates them to other organizations.

“Instead of putting money into bank accounts or stocks, I want to put money into places with mission-based goals, like supporting women or people of color,” she affirmed.