Philanthropist and billionaire MacKenzie Scott, who helped co-found Amazon with her ex-husband, Jeff Bezos, has made another historic donation to hundreds of organizations in need.
On Tuesday, Lever for Change and Scott’s organization, Yield Giving, announced that $640 million had been donated to 361 different nonprofit organizations after the two organizations launched an open call for “community-focused organizations” at seeking funding focused on advancing “the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of little or modest means.”
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Lever for Change said the open call received 6,353 total applications and had planned to award just 250 organizations with $1 million each, but expanded the prize pool. Now, 279 of the top candidates would receive $2 million each, and another 82 would receive $1 million each.
“We are thrilled that our partnership with Yield Giving has resonated with so many organizations,” said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change, in a company release. “In a world full of potential and talent, Open Call has given us the opportunity to identify, elevate and empower transformative organizations that often remain invisible.”
Winning candidates span 38 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, in both urban and rural settings.
Scott’s latest round of donations follows comments made by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in a now-deleted March 6 post on X, which not-so-subtly took aim at Scott and his divorce from Bezos.
“Super rich ex-wives who hate their ex-spouse” should file [sic] be listed among the “reasons why Western civilization is dead,” Musk wrote.
Scott received Amazon stock worth an estimated $38.3 billion (about 19.7 million shares worth 4% of the company) as part of their divorce settlement and pledged to give away more than 50% of the his total wealth during his period of employment or in his will to charity via donation pledge.
Scott is known for mass donating to smaller organizations in large sums. For example, in December 2023 he announced through Yield Giving that $2.15 billion had been donated to nonprofit organizations during that year.
Related: MacKenzie Scott has donated billions and just made a record-breaking donation
The billionaire also made history in October 2022 when she donated $84.5 million to the Girl Scouts of the USA, the largest donation ever made by a single individual.
Second BloombergScott’s net worth is estimated at $36.5 billion.