MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, announced she has donated $3.8 billion to 465 charities since June, picking organizations that she said "support the needs of underrepresented people from groups of all kinds."
The gifts include a record $275 million donation to Planned Parenthood, which the health care organization said "comes at a time when access to sexual and reproductive health care is under attack like never before, especially access to abortion." States including Texas have passed restrictive anti-abortion laws that critics say hamper the ability for women in those regions to access essential health care.
In a Wednesday post on Medium, Scott said her donations are designed to help all types of people, noting that "helping any of us can help us all." She pointed out that efforts such as investing in workplace and educational opportunities for women and girls results in stronger economic growth. About 6 in 10 of the charities Scott donated to are led by women, she added.
"We don't advocate for particular policies or reforms. Instead, we seek a portfolio of organizations that supports the ability of all people to participate in solutions," Scott wrote. "This means a focus on the needs of those whose voices have been underrepresented."
Scott ranks as the world's 22nd wealthiest person with a fortune of $55 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bezos is the world's second-richest individual, following Elon Musk, with a personal fortune of $188 billion.
Scott has become a force in philanthropy with her donations, which she's used to criticize the structures that allowed her and her ex-husband to build their fortunes. When she announced donations of $2.7 billion last June, she noted that her charitable team are "attempting to give away a fortune that was enabled by systems in need of change."
She noted that she's provided gifts to 1,257 organizations since she started her pledge "to give away this money with steadiness and care." Some of the organizations that Scott donated to in her most recent round of gifts include:
- Boys & Girls Clubs of America
- CARE — Ukraine relief efforts
- ClimateWorks Foundation — Drive Electric Campaign
- Code for America
- FoodCorps
- Guttmacher Institute
- Habitat for Humanity International
- National Council on Aging
- National Indigenous Women's Resource Center
- National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
- Planned Parenthood Federation of America
- Urgent Action Fund — Urgent Response Fund for Ukraine
- Vera Institute of Justice
- Wounded Warrior Project
- Young People in Recovery
