Amazon Billionaire Donates $9 Million To CT Organizations

HARTFORD, CT — MacKenzie Scott, the 18th richest person in the world, has donated almost $4.2 billion to charities across the country, including the YWCA Hartford Region and the Housing Development of Stamford, according to The Courant. Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, donated to 384 organizations that help people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scott donated $9 million to the YWCA Hartford Region and $4 million to Housing Development Fund. Both donations are the largest in the history of these organizations, according to The Courant.

Scott wrote on her blog: "This pandemic has been a wrecking ball in the lives of Americans already struggling. Economic losses and health outcomes alike have been worse for women, for people of color, and for people living in poverty. Meanwhile, it has substantially increased the wealth of billionaires."

She said that because of this, she asked her team of advisors to identify organizations with "strong leadership teams and results, with special attention to those operating in communities facing high projected food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic capital."

The 384 organizations she eventually chose were out of 6,490 organizations considered.

"We do this research and deeper diligence not only to identify organizations with high potential for impact, but also to pave the way for unsolicited and unexpected gifts given with full trust and no strings attached," Scott wrote. "These 384 carefully selected teams have dedicated their lives to helping others, working and volunteering and serving real people face-to-face at bedsides and tables, in prisons and courtrooms and classrooms, on streets and hospital wards and hotlines and frontlines of all types and sizes, day after day after day."

Last year, Scott signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give away most of her wealth in her lifetime, according to NBC CT.

Following her divorce from Bezos in 2019, Scott received a 4 percent stake in Amazon as part of a settlement. Her net worth is now reportedly nearly $56 billion.