MacKenzie Scott donated another billion euros to charitable causes

MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, claims to have donated another billion euros to charitable causes. The approximately $ 2.7 billion (about 2.2 billion euros) will go to 286 organizations that have been "historically underfunded and overlooked," she writes in a blog entry. The selected institutions campaign against racism or for culture and education, among other things. Scott emphasized that she wanted a shift in public attention in favor of these organizations: "Putting large donors at the center of stories of social progress is a distortion of their role." Your own fortune was made possible by systems that need to be changed, explains Scott. She also believes "that it would be better if disproportionate wealth were not concentrated in a small number of hands, and that the solutions are best designed and executed by others." After her divorce from Bezos, Scott announced that she would donate at least half of her billion dollar fortune. She joined the initiative "The Giving Pledge", as the organization announced at the time. The signatories undertake to donate at least half of their assets to charitable purposes during their lifetime or in their will. Last July she made a donation of about $ 1.7 billion public, with more than $ 4 billion in donations by December. In her blog, the author appeals to the public: "Find new creative ways to help." One suggestion is, "If you have more cash than you need, hire some extra manpower that you can pay for the next five years." She cites a verse by the mystic Rumi: "A candle that is getting weaker explains: To collect more and more is not the way. Burn, become light and give warmth and help. Melt." At the same time, however, she also gives a tip that those who don't have that much money can take to heart: "Stop working every weekend. And get some sleep." Scott and Bezos announced in January 2019 that they would divorce after 25 years of marriage. In April the agreement on the division of the common property followed. Scott gave her ex-husband 75 percent of the shares in Amazon. Her block of shares was valued at around $ 36 billion at the time. The 51-year-old is now married to Dan Jewett, a Seattle teacher who has also joined The Giving Pledge.