It’s a good day for a lot of people in the world of nonprofits.
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott just announced that she has donated almost $3.9 billion to 456 nonprofit organizations, an expansive list with a broad range of missions and mandates—from improving women’s health to solving the climate crisis to helping military families, incarcerated people, and teachers. The through line, according to Scott, is that the selected groups are all working to “support the needs of underrepresented people from groups of all kinds.”
“When our giving team focuses on any system in which people are struggling, we don’t assume that we, or any other single group, can know how to fix it,” Scott wrote on her Medium page Wednesday. “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 has been among the most active and high-profile philanthropists since her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2019, after which she reportedly owned about 4% of the e-commerce giant. She previously made large donation announcements in July and December of 2020, and again in June of last year. In total, Scott says she’s donated to 1,257 organizations. Some of the groups that were part of today’s announcement also shared the news on social media:
Inspiration! With a $12m investment from MacKenzie Scott, @GlobalCitizenYr and its founder, @abbyfalik are shaping future global learning by @AmySho via @forbes https://t.co/SaEf1CvywV
— Susan Spector McPherson (@susanmcp1) March 23, 2022
Equality Now is thrilled & grateful to be recipient of $15m gift from philanthropists MacKenzie Scott & Dan Jewett. Their generosity will have a transformative impact on our ability to advance #WomensRights & address gender discrimination around the worldhttps://t.co/QJUSJ66LVd https://t.co/Dc6u2ACfV0
— Equality Now (@equalitynow) March 23, 2022
Today’s announcement includes a $275 million donation to Planned Parenthood’s national office and 21 regional affiliates, which the women’s health group described as the largest single-donor gift in its history. In her Medium post, Scott said 60% of the groups on today’s list are led by women.
