MacKenzie Scott Is Like the JD Rockefeller of Modern-Day Philanthropy

Separations can get messy, especially when you're a couple in the public eye. Normally people don't really care if two relatively successful business people go their separate ways unless they know the individuals directly. However, when you're the couple that launched and operated one of the world's richest companies, like Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott, people are going to be interested in your divorce settlement.

The novelist is also credited with helping launch Amazon out of a garage with Jeff Bezos and turning it into one of the world's most powerful companies. The couple divorced in 2019 following an alleged affair between Bezos and TV show host Lauren Sanchez. As part of the settlement, Scott received liquid assets and a whopping 4 percent of Amazon company stock, which was valued at $38.3 billion dollars.

This, combined with the cash Scott received in the divorce settlement, left her with a whopping $68 billion in total assets, making her the 12th wealthiest person in the word.

But Scott didn't seem interested in multiplying her wealth or becoming a big mover and shaker in business. Instead, she focused on something that many business magnates shifted their passion toward whenever they accumulated copious amounts of capital: philanthropy.

Scott realizes that a lot of publicity surrounding her name and generous efforts are heavily focusing on the large amounts of money that she's been gifting to some "286 high-impact organizations in categories and communities that have been historically underfunded and overlooked." But she's been pretty vocal about wanting the spotlight to be focused on the orgs themselves and not how much money she's giving them.

A recent $2.7 billion gift to these various institutions brings Scott's donations to a whopping near $9 billion in just 11 months. To put this into perspective, JD Rockefeller donated $500,000 by the time he passed in 1937. Adjusted for inflation for 2021, that's $9,347,048,000.

It certainly looks like Scott is making good on the promise she made with The Giving Pledge, which is a confluence of the world's wealthiest individuals banding together to give away the majority of their wealth.

"We chose to make relatively large gifts to the organizations named below, both to enable their work, and as a signal of trust and encouragement, to them and to others," Scott named in a Medium post called "Seeding by Ceding." They are listed in alphabetic order.

• 317 Main Community Music Center
• A Place Called Home
• ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities
• ACCESS
• Achieving the Dream
• ACT Grants
• Adeso
• Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Fund
• African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund
• African Leadership Group
• Afrika Tikkun
• Alaska Native Heritage Center
• Allied Media Projects
• Alonzo King LINES Ballet
• Alternate ROOTS
• Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
• Amarillo College
• American Indian College Fund
• American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC)
• Amref Health Africa
• APIA Scholars
• Apollo Theater
• Art for Justice Fund
• Arts Administrators of Color Network
• Arts for Healing and Justice Network
• Arts Forward Fund
• Arts Midwest
• Ashé Cultural Arts Center
• Ashoka Innovators for the Public
• Asian American Federation
• Asian American LEAD
• Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy
• Asian Pacific Community Fund
• Asian Pacific Fund
• Atlanta Music Project
• Authors League Fund
• AWID (Association for Women’s Rights in Development)
• Ballet Hispánico
• Big Thought
• Black Ensemble Theater
• Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD)
• BoardSource
• Borealis Philanthropy
• Black Led Movement Fund
• Communities Transforming Policing Fund
• Disability Inclusion Fund
• Emerging LGBTQ Leaders of Color Fund
• Racial Equity in Journalism Fund
• Racial Equity in Philanthropy Fund
• Racial Equity to Accelerate Change Fund
• Spark Justice Fund
• Brazosport College
• Broward College
• Building Movement Project
• CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities
• Cal Poly Pomona
• California State University Channel Islands
• California State University, Fullerton
• California State University, Northridge
• Candid
• Center for Asian American Media
• Center for Cultural Innovation
• Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP)
• Center for Evaluation Innovation
• Center of Life
• CFLeads
• Chaffey Community College
• CHANGE Philanthropy

• Charity Navigator
• Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
• Chicago’s Cultural Treasures
• Child in Need Institute (CINI)
• Children’s Defense Fund
• Chinatown Community Development Center
• Chinese for Affirmative Action
• Co-Impact Gender Fund
• Collage Dance Collective
• College of the Desert
• Common Counsel Foundation
• Common Future
• Community MusicWorks
• CompassPoint Nonprofit Services
• Constellations Culture Change Fund
• CUNY Hostos Community College
• Dance Theatre of Harlem
• David’s Harp
• Decolonizing Wealth Project
• Digital Green
• Donors of Color Network
• DonorsChoose
• Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
• Dream a Dream

• East Bay Fund for Artists
• East West Players
• El Museo del Barrio
• El Paso Community College
• Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy
• Equal Measure
• Equitable Evaluation Initiative
• Equity in the Center
• Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
• Excelencia in Education
• Exponent Philanthropy
• Faith in Action
• Faith in Public Life
• Filantropía Puerto Rico
• Firelight Media
• First Peoples Fund
• Flamboyan Arts Fund
• Florida International University
• Fondo Semillas
• Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grants COVID-19 Funds
• FSG
• Fund for Shared Insight
• Funders for LGBTQ Issues
• Girls First Fund

• GiveDirectly
• GiveIndia
• GivingTuesday
• GOONJ
• Grantmakers for Effective Organizations
• GreenLight Fund
• Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center
• HIAS
• Homeboy Industries
• Hyde Square Task Force
• IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
• IDinsight
• Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN)
• Institute for Transformative Technologies
• Interaction Institute for Social Change
• International African American Museum
• Jan Sahas
• Japanese American National Museum
• Jazz at Lincoln Center
• Junebug Productions
• Jusoor
• Kennedy-King College
• Kepler
• Kiva
• L.A. Arts Endowment Fund
• Lee College
• Leeway Foundation
• Lever for Change
• Long Beach City College
• Los Cenzontles Cultural Arts Academy
• Lwala Community Alliance

• Magic Bus
• Maine Expansion Arts Fund
• Mama Foundation for the Arts
• Management Leadership for Tomorrow
• Mann Deshi Foundation
• MDRC
• Memphis Music Initiative
• MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership
• Metro IAF
• Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund
• Mexic-Arte Museum
• Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
• Mid-America Arts Alliance
• Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
• Mosaic Network and Fund
• Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit
• mothers2mothers
• Motown Museum
• Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico
• Museum of Chinese in America
• Muslim Advocates
• Muso
• Namati
• National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures
• National Center for Family Philanthropy
• National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
• National Council of Nonprofits
• National Equity Project
• National Museum of Mexican Art
• Native Americans in Philanthropy
• Native Arts & Cultures Foundation
• NDN Collective
• Neighborhood Funders Group
• Neutral Zone
• New City Kids
• New England Foundation for the Arts
• New Profit
• NGOsource
• NTEN
• Odessa College
• Oregon Arts and Culture Recovery Fund
• OutRight Action International
• PA’I Foundation
• Partners In Health
• Pasadena City College
• PEAK Grantmaking
• PEN America Writers’ Emergency Fund
• Penumbra

• Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity
• Pillars Fund
• Piramal Swasthya
• Play On Philly
• Porterville College
• Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN)
• ProInspire
• Project Evident
• Project Row Houses
• Race Forward
• Recess
• Renaissance Youth Center
• Renton Technical College
• Repair the World
• Repairers of the Breach
• Results for America
• Rise Up
• Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
• Rockwood Leadership Institute
• Room to Read
• Roosevelt Institute
• RYSE Center
• San Antonio College
• San Francisco Community Health Center
• San Jacinto Community College
• Sanku — Project Healthy Children
• Santa Barbara City College
• Save The Music Foundation
• Self Help Graphics & Art
• Service Year Alliance

• Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO)
• Sins Invalid
• Sipp Culture
• SNEHA (Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action)
• Social Finance
• Solidaire Network
• Souls Grown Deep
• South Arts
• Southwest Folklife Alliance
• Southwest Texas Junior College
• Sphinx Organization
• Spy Hop
• TechSoup Global
• The Antara Foundation
• The BOMA Project
• The Bridgespan Group
• The Center for Cultural Power
• The Door
• The Education Trust
• The Freedom Fund
• The Greenlining Institute
• The International Association of Blacks in Dance
• The Laundromat Project
• The Management Center
• The Nonprofit Quarterly
• The Studio Museum in Harlem
• The Theater Offensive
• The Urban Institute
• The Village of Arts and Humanities
• The/Nudge Foundation
• Third Sector
• Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation
• Tostan
• Triangle Project
• Ubuntu Pathways
• United Philanthropy Forum
• United States Artists
• Unity Productions Foundation
• University of California, Merced
• University of Central Florida
• University of Illinois Chicago
• University of Texas at San Antonio
• University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
• Urban Bush Women
• Urban Word NYC
• Ushahidi
• VolunteerMatch
• West Hills College Lemoore
• West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation
• Western States Arts Federation
• William Rainey Harper College
• Wing Luke Museum
• Womankind
• Women’s Funding Network
• Women’s Audio Mission
• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)
• Youth Empowerment Project
• Youth on Record
• Youth Speaks
• YR Media
• ZUMIX