MacKenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos’s ex wife, has been quietly and thoughtfully giving away her fortune of around $36 billion to charity. The last we reported on her she’d donated $133 million to an education nonprofit that helps kids stay in school. We only knew about it because the organization, Communities in School, decided to go public with the donation. In MacKenzie’s essays about her charitable donations, which she prefers to call “giving” instead of “philanthropy,” she’s stated that she will not publicize the names of the charities she and her team chooses to support. While she did this in the past, she’s specified that it’s up to the individual organizations to break the news to the press. Now we’re hearing about her donation of almost half a billion to Habitat for Humanity. That’s incredible. Habitat made the announcement in a press release. Here’s more, from the NY Times:
MacKenzie Scott, who promised in 2019 that she would give away her fortune “until the safe is empty,” has donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity International and its 84 affiliates, the organization said Tuesday.
The gift is designed to help alleviate the global housing shortage and promote “equitable access to affordable housing,” Habitat for Humanity said in a statement.
The organization said that it would use $25 million of the donation over the next three to four years to create more affordable housing and help “the millions of individuals increasingly shut out of the housing market.”
“With this donation, Habitat is well positioned to meaningfully advocate for the systemic and societal changes needed to improve equitable access to affordable housing,” Jonathan Reckford, chief executive of Habitat for Humanity, said in the statement.
What a lovely person she is. She’s a great writer too, read some of her essays on Medium. She’s not going to any openings, she’s not at awards shows, she’s not even holding any charity galas, although doing those things would be perfectly in line with her goal of supporting charities and making a difference in the world. She’s not living large as far as we know either. This woman could buy entire cities and have water parks and malls built to her specifications. (OK so now you know what I would do with that kind of cash. I’m nostalgic and everything would have a late 80s theme. There would be plenty left to give away though and my 80s city would bring joy to children.) She’s just doing the work behind the scenes to give away her massive wealth to deserving organizations and she’s doing it thoughtfully and quietly. I admire her so much. Also Habitat is a great organization! They’ve helped so many people afford homes.
She is amazing.
She said she would and she is. That’s amazing.
I unabashedly love how she just gives quietly and without fanfare, just letting the charities she works with decide if and how they want to come forward about her donations.
I wish more people with this kind of cash were this giving.
Okay, so here’s a question – she gave 434 million and Habitat says they’re spending 25 million building homes over the next 4 years. What are they doing with the other 410 million? That struck me as odd.
It makes sense not to blow it all at once. Plus think of how much interest the balance will accrue, hopefully they will become def supporting.
Habitat for Humanity is a great organization.
They truly are!! We knew someone that was finally accepted as a recipient and she asked us if we could help with her donation portion, which we gladly accepted. The homes are incredibly well built and the entire crews are the most compassionate and lovely people!!
All I know is that Mackenzie Scott is certainly a wonderful woman and she is someone is incredibly dedicated to supporting as many as she possibly can!! Plus, how amazing is it that she works covertly to make these sizable donations without the display of wanting accolades!!! She just chooses to be in the background and helping out as many people as she possibly can. I wish everyone with her type of wealth would follow her leadership and give so generously!!
The wealth disparity in this country is atrocious!! The 1% made massive gains during the pandemic, more money than they could possibly hope for, yet they STILL hold onto it like grubby, selfish and unconscionably use it to further their own wealth by building space crafts that look like penises!!
I think they showed that as one example of what they’ll be doing with the funds, focusing a portion on areas that have no affordable housing. I’m sure they’re using more of it in the next few years for other projects too.
Plus it’s such a huge amount, she basically set them up to run and be sustainable for a few decades.
I imagine that some portion will go into the organization’s endowment, the income from which will fund future projects.
The money is being dispersed to 84 affiliates. My city’s Habitat for Humanity is getting about 10 million.
Her giving and way of life is such a contrast to her ex. It’s interesting to see how people treat money and how they are affected by it.
She is absolutely amazing. I love the way she and her husband lean into each other. They obviously adore each other
So here we have a truly good human. Her giving is helping millions of people. I kinda think this lady has a Wonder Woman suit in her wardrobe somewhere. Awesome person
Her heart is in the right place. But her fortune could help END our housing crisis, so as someone who works on this issue daily, I’m very, very sad to see she picked Habitat for Humanity.
And shocked, honestly. For YEARS they have been exposed over and over again, and anyone who works in policy can tell you the problem is not a lack of houses. (Anyone who works in construction can also tell you high material costs and shoddy volunteer labor make a terrible model for long-term charity.)
Google “Habitat for Humanity scam” or “Habitat for Humanity homes defaulted”. Google Perla Veloria in Edmonton or Mary Zeigler in Florida. It’s because I care so much about this issue that I’m leaving this comment — they are a harmful org. They harm people. I’ve met some of those people. And in a policy sense, I *am* one of those people, working overtime to get people to focus their energy and money on the ACTUAL solutions to homelessness.
What are ways that she could help solve the housing crisis? I’m not being snarky btw. You are clearly knowledgeable and I’m wondering what you believe the solutions are to this.
Habitat for Humanity has done some great things in my community. My husband has been part of several builds.
They are very well known in our community due to the massive pay disparity here where I live. I have never met such wonderful people that are truly trying to make a difference in helping others out that desperately need affordable housing.
Though its saddens me with what @ Brittney B has shared.
I was coming here to say that I wish it wasn’t habitat. I think habitat has its heart in the right place, and has definitely helped a lot of families, but also does unintended harm and has quality issues. Quality issues that we rip Brad Pitt’s New Orleans charity for.
There’s a lot more solutions that haven’t been tried because of funding and scale issues. I guess, I’m glad she’s doing something, but this lacks imagination and research.
They are problematic in many ways. Habitat is also known for requiring the recipients to agree to a Christian prayer at the handing over of the key and a gift of a Bible to be kept in the home.
They are problematic, like requiring the recipient to allow a Christian prayer at the key handover and a Bible for the household.
There are two things here, one is housing ( roof over one’s head) and the other is homeownership, which is generally a significant portion of wealth transfer between generations of many families. Habitat, in many areas, wound up creating affordable infill homeownership opportunities in many central cities which had large areas of blighted housing. The theory being that it gave a family a leg up ( homeownership) and by putting a concentration of homeowners in the are also brought stabilization to a community.
As for using volunteers, the quality depends on the people doing the supervision.
I have worked in public housing, affordable housing, and corporate housing finance. Every housing/homeownership model has upsides and drawbacks. The question at the end of the day is has more material good been done than the costs of the mistakes.
Everyday, everyday, it seems women should be put in charge. War, climate, poverty all via the greed of men. Let them women take over and we’ll finally have a gentler world.
Amen to that!!! Imagine how much kinder and greater the world would be!!! But we have women taking the charge everyday, no matter how big or small!!! But I agree with you 1000%!!!!
Imma jump right in here with a response to marycontray’s question… in North America, and in many other places…at a fundamental level…Houses are both homes and assets.
The more we as society treat houses as assets, which we use to seek financial gain, the less we are able to commit to upholding the human right to housing.
Financial speculation and government policies that shelter investment in housing drive up the cost of housing.
Cultural attitudes that prioritize home ownership also promote negative attitudes towards publically subsidized housing, rent controls, taxes and other policies that would make housing more accessible.
One challenge in solving the housing crisis is that the housing sector is important to our economies, and for the majority of households, their home us their greatest asset. So, how do we intervene in this context to promote housing as a human right?
I have 2 degrees in urban planning. It’s a very interesting topic, and I would like to read other answers to Marycontrary’s question.
Also, thanks Britney B for sharing your knowledge.
Very interesting read. Decent housing is a human right, but owning a home is a sign of wealth, and given the expense of maintaining a house, it is counter productive and only promotes wealth disparity. I never realized that. Her heart is definitely in the right place, though. I say with all sincerity, it must be a burden to smartly give away so much money so that it does the most good.
Isn’t one of the problems zoning only for single family homes? I know in my state people are all for affordable housing, until someone wants to build a multi-family unit, then they’re all “wait a minute…”
I’m quite sure this woman could cure cancer if she puts her mind to it lol.
That saying “my better half”. She really was Bezo’s better half.
She’s making the world a better place with her fortune and Bezos is burning his (literally burning it up) playing astronaut.
Amen. She was his much better half. She is a fine example of what to do with all the extra money you’ve got laying around.
That saying “my better half”. She really was Bezo’s better half.
She’s making the world a better place with her fortune and Bezos is burning his playing astronaut.
Wish there are more billionaires like her. Too bad none of her influence rubbed off on her douchey ex.
Now, this is truly what I would call living the life!
The more articles I read about Mackenzie Scott makes me even more convinced that she was WAY out of Jeff “mid-life crisis” Bezos. Good for her for living her best life and for her generosity.