CLEVELAND — MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, says she has given away $4.1 billion in the past four months to hundreds of organizations as part of a giving pledge she announced last year, including four Cleveland non-profit organizations.
The donation is part of nearly $6 billion Scott has donated in 2020 as part of a giving pledge she announced in 2019.
Scott donated to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, YWCA of Greater Cleveland, YMCA of Greater Cleveland, and the Goodwill of Greater Cleveland and Central Ohio.
She also donated $10 million to Goodwill Industries of Akron.
“We’re humbled by this most generous donation from MacKenzie Scott,” said Goodwill Industries of Greater Cleveland and East Central Ohio President and CEO Anne Richards in a news release. “We couldn’t accomplish our mission of preparing people for a variety of stable career options and in turn, a more productive and sustainable way of life without the continued support of wonderful donors like Ms. Scott. This gift will enable us to make a positive impact on thousands of people within the communities we serve.”
The donation to Goodwill Industries was based on the organization's accomplishments.
"A team of advisors … took a data-driven approach to identifying organizations with strong end 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,” Scott said in a release. “The result over the last four months has been $4,158,500,000 in gifts to 384 organizations across all 50 states.”
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