MacKenzie Scott’s philanthropic donations are over $12.5 billion with latest round
Our New Year 2021 Lifestyles Magazine/Meaningful Influence cover subject MacKenzie Scott joined the “Giving Pledge” with the following words:
“We each come by the gifts we have to offer by an infinite series of influences and lucky breaks we can never fully understand. In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share. My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.”
In only two years, MacKenzie Scott has become one of the most remarkable and thoughtful mega-philanthropists in the world.
She made her entrance into the forefront of the philanthropic world in a big way in July 2020 when she announced a round of $1.7 billion in donations to about the 116 nonprofits since becoming a signatory of the Giving Pledge in 2019.
In December 2020, she revealed another $4.16 billion donated to 384 organizations.
That move compelled us to feature her on our New Year 2021 cover.
In June 2021, she once again made headlines when she announced new donations totaling $2.74 billion to 286 nonprofits.
Most recently, on March 23, 2022, Scott once again announced her latest round of giving: almost $3.8 billion in unrestricted gifts to 465 organizations over the last nine months.
“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,” she stated. “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.”
The beneficiary organizations formed a refreshingly interesting pattern: roughly 60 percent of the recipient nonprofits are led by women, 75 percent are headed by people who have experienced the issues they work to address, and other varying benefitting causes have ranged from housing to human rights, education, and health. Some recipients included the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Habitat for Humanity, Planned Parenthood, and most recently, Ukraine relief efforts.
“Our team’s focus over these last nine months has included some new areas, but as always our aim has been to support the needs of underrepresented people from groups of all kinds,” Scott stated. “The cause of equity has no sides.”
These recent contributions have brought MacKenzie Scott’s total philanthropy to $12.5 billion in 1,257 donations since 2019. According to estimates, her current net worth is at roughly $48.9 billion—this deeply committed philanthropist and her science teacher husband Dan Jewett has a long way to go until that safe is empty.