MacKenzie Scott was named #1 on Forbe’s “The World’s Most Powerful Women of 2021” list, as well as #30 on Forbes Billionaires list for 2022. Scott is a philanthropist, American novelist, & ex wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. During her college years at Princeton, Scott studied English under Nobel Peace Prize winner Toni Morrison. Morrison has been quoted saying, MacKenzie was “one of the best students I’ve ever had in my creative writing classes.”After graduating from Princeton with a Bachelor of Arts/Science, she continued to work with Morrison as her research assistant.
While pursuing her writing career MacKenzie worked as an administrative assistant at the financial firm D.E. Shaw in order to pay the bills. While working at the firm, she met it’s youngest vice president, Jeff Bezos. The two dated for 3 months before getting engaged & were married 3 months later.
During their 25 year marriage MacKenzie & Jeff would have 4 children. She helped Jeff launch Amazon, helping him brainstorm a name for the company & ship packages through UPS. Eventually, she took a step back to raise her children & focus on her literacy career. In 2005, Mackenzie released her first book, The Testing of Luther Albright & in 2006 received an American Book Award for Outstanding Literary Achievement for her work. Her second book, Traps, came out in 2013.
In 2014, MacKenzie founded Bystander Revolution, an anti bullying advocacy nonprofit group of which she serves as the executive director.
When the couple divorced in mid 2019 the settlement awarded MacKenzie 25% of Bezos’ stake in Amazon, which was a 4% total stake in the company valued at $37 billion. She gave up ownership of the other companies her husband owned, such as the Washington Post & Blue Origin. It was the largest divorce settlement in history. The settlement made her the 3rd wealthiest woman in the world, following the heiress to L’Oreal & Walmart heiress. in Shortly after their divorce was made public, MacKenzie signed Warren Buffet & Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge where she promised to give away at least half of her wealth over the course of her lifetime. In 2020 she announced donated just over $5.8 billion in gifts to 500+ nonprofit organizations. In June 2021, she donated another $2.74 billion to 286 groups. Her generosity doesn’t stop there - Scott employs a ‘no strings attached’ type of giving, wherein the nonprofits that she donates to have full control over how to best deploy the new funds.
The majority of the non profit organizations receiving money from MacKenzie are led by women, LGBT individuals, & ethnic minorities. The recipient organizations must support programs that fall under the following categories:
- Racial Equity
- LGBTQ Equity
- Empathy & Bridging Divides
- Gender Equity
- Economic Mobility
- Functional Democracy
- Public Health
- Global Development
- Climate Change
Before pledging the 2nd round of donations in 2021, she announced that she & a team of consultants had spent the first quart of 2021 “identifying & evaluating equity-oriented non-profit teams working in areas that have been neglected.” Scott donated to the Black Led Movement, Communities Transforming Policing, Disability Inclusion, Emerging LGBTQ Leaders of Color, Racial Equity in Journalism, Racial Equity in Philanthropy, Racial Equity to Accelerate Change, & Spark Justice funds. In 2021, Scott also donated to Outright Action International, a global consultant that promotes LGBT rights & issues worldwide with a “commitment to intersectionality & a fierce feminist lens.”
As part of her Giving Pledge, Scott & Dan Jewett donated $20 million to Children’s Defense fund, a left leaning organization that adcocates for increased welfare & gov spending on education & family issues.
On March 23, 2022 Scott announced a $275 million commitment to Planned Parenthood Federation of America & 21 of its affiliates. The gift was the largest ever given by a single donor in Planned Parenthood history.
