Philanthropist and Bezos’ ex MacKenzie Scott donates $1.7B to HBCUs
For many of these institutions, this is the largest individual donation received all at once
During a pandemic-filled summer, MacKenzie Scott, ex wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, donated more than $1.7 billion to diverse organizations, including HBCUs.
Bowie State University, Alcorn State University, Clark Atlanta University, and Morgan State University are some of the recipients of the philanthropist’s nearly $2 billion charity.
READ MORE: Mackenzie Scott, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, donates millions to HBCUs
theGrio previously reported that Scott gave between $40 and $50 million to historically Black college or universities. Among the beneficiaries are Howard University, Xavier University of Louisiana and Hampton University. For some of these institutions, this is the largest individual donation received all at once.
In total, Scott has donated more than $4.2 billion in the last four months to 384 organizations. According to her Medium blog post, she supported civil rights groups including the NAACP, Lambda Legal, and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Her generous financial donation also assisted food banks, emergency relief funds, debt relief, employment training, and credit and financial services for under-resourced communities, USA Today reported.
“These 384 carefully selected teams have dedicated their lives to helping others, working and volunteering and serving real people face-to-face at bedsides and tables, in prisons and courtrooms and classrooms, on streets and hospital wards and hotlines and frontlines of all types and sizes, day after day after day,” Scott said in the statement.
Read More: Jeff Bezos champions ‘Black Lives Matter’ in response to customer
Scott is associated with the Giving Pledge, a campaign to encourage wealthy Americans to make large financial contributions to causes that benefit the less fortunate. The nonprofit was founded by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates, known for funding projects that address poverty, diseases, refugee aid, disaster relief, global health, and education.
According to Bloomberg’s Billionare index, Scott is the 18th richest person in the world and the third wealthiest woman in the world.
As of November 2020, the 50-year-old’s net worth is estimated to be about $40 billion, according to Wealthy Persons. Most of her wealth comes from the 4% stake in Amazon that she bagged as part of her divorce settlement.
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