MacKenzie Scott Will (Hopefully) Revolutionize Charitable Giving
How a woman with billions of dollars is sticking it to the uber-wealthy.
MacKenzie Scott is a billionaire philanthropist, one of the richest people in the world, and the richest woman in the world. Scott made her billions through significant involvement with Amazon in its early days, having worked with and married its founder and retaining a significant stake in the company after their divorce in 2019. She was named the richest woman in the world in December of 2020, with an estimated net worth of about $62 billion.
All of this is great, and you can find this information just about anywhere, but the thing I want to focus on is the word philanthropist. Scott signed the Giving Pledge in 2019 after her divorce, and she has been living that out ever since.
For those unfamiliar with the Giving Pledge, it was created by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, the OG billionaires, and is a pledge to give away the majority of one’s wealth to charitable causes. There are currently 231 pledgers as of 2021, the most recent year that the website has data for.
The thing about the pledge is that it’s not legally binding and pledgers can go about it in whatever way they want. Many give their money to a personal charitable foundation…
