Billionaire MacKenzie Scott’s approach to philanthropy has been unorthodox. Notably, she decided to forgo establishing a foundation and is instead giving huge grants directly to nonprofit organizations.
Her giving is shaking up the philanthropic sector not only by raising questions about how quickly billionaires should donate their money, but also by leaving recipients to figure out how exactly to spend the largest one-time grants many have ever received.
Scott’s announcement last month that she and her schoolteacher husband, Dan Jewett, had donated more than $2.7 billion to 286 organizations only added to her growing acclaim as one of a few billionaires giving money at a breakneck pace. Scott, whose net worth is estimated to be more than $60 billion, vowed to give away at least half of her wealth when she joined the Giving Pledge in 2019, shortly after divorcing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.