Billionaire philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott announced Tuesday she is giving $640 million to 361 small nonprofits that responded to an open call for applications.
Yield Giving’s first round of donations is more than double what Scott had initially pledged to give away through the application process. Since she began giving away billions in 2019, Scott and her team have researched and selected organizations without an application process and provided them with large, unrestricted gifts.
In a brief note on her website, Scott wrote she was grateful to Lever for Change, the organization that managed the open call, and the evaluators for “their roles in creating this pathway to support for people working to improve access to foundational resources in their communities. They are vital agents of change.”
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Uh… yes.
It appears so on this occasion. She’s made giving her money away a full-time job. Not like she’s ever going to live uncomfortably, but it’s pretty much a positive.
She has currently donated over $15 billion since the divorce (started with $38 billion in amazon shares, now is worth about $40 billion despite stock price doubling in the 5 years since then), none of it with strings attached or being future promises like most billionaires. She doesn’t need tax cuts since she just gets taxed on what she actually spends from capital gains tax (or whatever, I’m not an accountant), she doesn’t stay in media spotlights except for when her donations go out, her donation org website does semi-yearly updates so its not trying to be a source of info or drama, etc.
She hasn’t lost money because she amazon stock price keeps going up, she’s just not gaining as much as she could be if she hoarded her wealth, but she knows she has more money than she could ever hope to or want to spend in her lifetime, her kids lifetimes, or however many generations $40 billion can support even assuming the amazon stock prices get tanked (very unlikely).
She just is a good human being with a good heart. It’s rare that people like that have this kind of money to give away for purely charitable reasons, but here we are
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She’s a philanthropist. A genuinely good person who wants the world to be a better place.
This may shock you but… Bill Gates is also a philanthropist.
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Ehh. Even if he is, his choice of charities and other beneficiaries are sometimes questionable. His push for charter schools being a great example. My dislike of billionare philanthropy stems from the fact that it can often subvert democratic interests in favor of one individual’s personal vision and myopic views.
I have no idea what charter schools are.
I’m not claiming that Bill Gates is some kind of God like champion of progressive politics. Billionaires never are.
He is however sacrificing a significant portion of his wealth in order to make the world better. A quick google says $7b in 2022 or something.
The tax write off is just something idiots say. That $7b is gone. Yes he may save some tax but not $7b.
Most billionaires would just buy political influence directly.
She’s one of the few who actually put the “billionaires should be free to donate how they choose!” thing up in good faith, it seems. I’ll reserve some skepticism, but as far as the mega wealthy go, she seems to actually be doing okay.