MacKenzie Scott, who was formerly married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is a highly regarded philanthropist and known for her generous donations and grants to non-profits and community-focused initiatives.
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And her latest donation is breaking records.
On Tuesday, The Girl Scouts of the USA revealed that Scott had donated $84.5 million to the organization and 29 local branches, marking the largest single donation the company has ever received in its over 100 years of existence.
The Girl Scouts plan to use the funding to help make up for lost funding during the pandemic — as an organization that thrives on in-person fundraising and events, memberships took a major hit during the age of COVID protocols.
Other uses for the funds will go towards improving science and tech education for its members, D&I initiatives (namely to attain new members from underserved communities) as well as renovations on campsites and other Girl Scout sites.
The organization also plans to use Scott’s donation to “foster meaningful program innovation informed by the current interests and needs of girls to prepare them for leadership, including an expanded focus on career readiness and mental wellness,” per a press release.
Girl Scouts of the USA CEO Sofia Chang said that Scott’s support of the non-profit “means honestly just as much as the donation” and that following the pandemic, she aims to have the Girl Scouts “build back stronger than we ever had before.”
Scott recently made headlines when she filed for divorce last month from her second husband, Dan Jewett, after a little over a year and a half of marriage.
Ahead of her filing, she donated two Beverly Hills homes to the California Community Foundation to support the nonprofit’s affordable housing and immigrant integration initiatives, worth an estimated combined total of $55 million.
It’s part of a 2019 commitment the philanthropist made to donate the majority of her wealth to nonprofit and philanthropic efforts as a part of the Giving Pledge — when billionaires promise to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes by the end of their lifetime.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Scott’s net worth was an estimated $28.4 billion.
