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Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gives away £1.9bn to hundreds of charities

Watch: MacKenzie Scott Donates $8 Million To National Museum Of Mexican Art

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated billions of pounds to hundreds of charities dedicated to helping improve access to education and those working to combat racial discrimination.

It is the third round of contributions she has made, donating a total of more than £5.6bn

Last year she also made two surprise announcements and donated about £4.2bn to causes including Covid relief and gender equity.

Scott, who was recently divorced from Jeff Bezos and received a 4 per cent stake in Amazon making her the 20th richest person in the world , issued a statement regarding the latest £1.9bn distribution.

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In a personal post on Medium on Tuesday, Scott said she had “felt stuck” over how to articulate her purpose.

“I want to de-emphasize privileged voices and cede focus to others, yet I know some media stories will focus on wealth,” she wrote.

“The headline I would wish for this post is ‘286 Teams Empowering Voices the World Needs to Hear’.

CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos and  writer MacKenzie Bezos  (Getty Images)
CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos and writer MacKenzie Bezos (Getty Images)

“People struggling against inequities deserve center stage in stories about change they are creating. This is equally – perhaps especially – true when their work is funded by wealth. Any wealth is a product of a collective effort that included them. The social structures that inflate wealth present obstacles to them. And despite those obstacles, they are providing solutions that benefit us all,” she added.

She wrote that she and her husband, Dan Jewett, a teacher, and “a constellation of researchers and administrators and advisers” were “all attempting to give away a fortune that was enabled by systems in need of change.

“In this effort, we are governed by a humbling belief 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 implemented by others.

“Though we still have a lot to learn about how to act on these beliefs without contradicting and subverting them, we can begin by acknowledging that people working to build power from within communities are the agents of change. Their service supports and empowers people who go on to support and empower others.”

She went on to say because community-centered service is such a “powerful catalyst and multiplier” they had spent the first quarter of 2021 identifying equity-oriented non-profit teams working in areas that had been neglected.

Watch: MacKenzie Scott Donates To Sacramento United Way

Read More

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