US billionaire Mackenzie Scott in a race to donate all her Ksh.4.8 trillion fortune

Back in December, Scott revealed that she donated roughly $2.1 billion (Ksh.285 billion) in grant funding to 360 organizations for the year 2023.

The gifts were provided to domestic organizations in the United States, as well as nonprofits based abroad in countries including Brazil, Kenya, and India mostly focusing on equity, gender and human rights.

Scott, who was previously married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for 25 years and has a net worth of Ksh.4.8 trillion ($34 billion), has given away more than Ksh.2.3 trillion ($16 billion) total to over 1,900 organizations, mostly since 2020.

She has since become known for the fast pace of her giving in the form of no-strings-attached grants, which has won her plaudits from organizations that relish the autonomy she has given them.

In 2019, Scott signed the Giving Pledge, a non-binding promise billionaires make to donate the majority of their wealth.

“In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” she wrote in a letter on the Giving Pledge website. “My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.”

While commenting about Scott's nature of philanthropy, Ruth Simmons, the president of Prairie View A&M University told the Associated Press, "The most cherished gifts are definitely those that are unrestricted because a complex university has a wide variety of needs."

In 2020, Simmons' University received a Ksh.7.1 billion ($50 million) donation from Scott, one of the largest donations it had ever gotten.

Over the years, she has announced her gifts through Medium posts and on X. In December, she quietly posted a short update on her Yield Giving website, detailing her year's charitable outreach.

"Excited to call attention to these 360 outstanding organizations, every one of whom could use more allies,” she wrote. “Grateful to everyone in the extended team who made it possible to give them gifts. Inspired by all the ways people work together to offer each other goodwill and support.”

Amongst the beneficiaries is Global grantmaker the Disability Rights Fund, which is also U.S.-based. It received an $8 million (Ksh.1.1 billion) gift from Scott. 

The donation is “an unprecedented investment from an individual donor,” the group said. The Disability Fund has provided financial support for people with disabilities in 38 countries.

Other international or non-U.S.-based grantees include the Malaria Consortium, which received $10 million (Ksh. 1.4 billion) for its work in Africa and Asia. 

MAMTA Health Institute for Mother and Child, based in India, was also awarded $9 million (Ksh. 1.2 billion) for efforts to provide maternal, nutrition, and other healthcare services in India, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Closer home, Women Fund Tanzania received a $2 million (Ksh. 286 million) grant to support its efforts to promote women’s rights.

Scott has vowed to give the majority of her wealth to charity, creating a splash in the philanthropy world since 2020 when she began giving away large, unrestricted, often multimillion-dollar grants while most other funders were distributing much smaller amounts to nonprofits.

Scott's unparalleled generosity has not gone unchallenged, however. 

Some philanthropy experts have been disappointed that her methods haven’t yet caught on with other donors and a recent report on the impacts of Scott’s giving showed that many funders continue to doubt the effectiveness of Scott’s giving style, particularly whether her gifts are too large for grantees to handle.

On March 7, fellow billionaire Elon Musk too took shots at the uber-giver, criticising the purposes of her widespread philanthropy.

"Super rich ex-wives who hate their former spouse' should be listed among 'Reasons that Western Civilization died,'" Musk wrote in an X post referencing Jeff Bezos' ex-wife.

Musk was responding to another user who'd claimed that Scott had been giving money to organizations that "deal with issues of race and/or gender."