MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist, author and former wife of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, is married to a science teacher in Seattle. Dan Jewett made the announcement Saturday in a letter to the nonprofit organization The Giving Pledge.
Jewett said he never thought he could talk during his lifetime about giving away substantial wealth to make a difference in the lives of others. He expressed his gratitude “for the extraordinary privilege of giving a partnership to give away assets with the potential to do so much good when shared.”
Jewett has been a teacher for decades and recently taught chemistry at the private Lakeside School, where Scott’s children attended.
The gives promise
“And now, in a happy coincidence, I am married to one of the most generous and kind people I know – and commit to a commitment to transfer an enormous financial wealth to serve others,” Jewett wrote .
After donating $ 1.68 billion to 116 nonprofits, universities, community development groups and legal organizations last year, Scott asked a team of advisers to help her accelerate her 2020 grant with immediate help to those financially through the pandemic is knee-jerk.
Scott donated a total of $ 5.7 billion in 2020 by asking community leaders to identify 512 organizations for donations of seven and eight figures, including food banks, human service organizations and racial justice charities.
According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual rankings, she was ranked No. 2 last year among the 50 Americans who gave the most to charity.
Bezos topped the list by donating $ 10 billion to launch the Bezos Earth Fund.
Scott announced a flurry of charity gifts in a Medium post in December, writing that she was inspired by grassroots efforts to help people in need, such as community refrigerators and ‘improvised Venmo person-to-person gifts’. Scott said she began researching 6,490 organizations and then her list of 384 organizations that have a ‘huge potential for impact’.
Many of the organizations, such as food banks, address basic needs, while others focus on what Scott calls “long-term systemic inequalities deepened by the crisis.” Among the beneficiaries:
- More than 40 food banks that feed America, ranging from the Central California Food Bank to the Vermont Food Bank
- More than 40 Goodwill affiliates, such as Goodwill Hawaii and Goodwill of the Heartland
- 30 Meals on Wheels membership programs, such as Meals on Wheels South Florida and Meals on Wheels Atlanta
- Educational institutions, including Lehman College of the City University of New York and Morgan State University in Baltimore
“We shared each of our decisions about the gift for the first time by telephone with program leaders and welcomed them to spend the money on everything they believe best serves,” she writes. “The responses of people who answered the calls often included personal stories and tears.”
Aimee Picchi contributed to this report.