“The pandemic has wrecked the lives of Americans already struggling,” Scott wrote in a Medium post. “Both economic losses and health outcomes have been worse for women, for people of color and for people living in poverty. Meanwhile, it has significantly increased the wealth of billionaires.”
Scott’s post listed the hundreds of organizations that have received funding, including financial services providers for low-resource communities, education for historically marginalized and disadvantaged individuals, civil rights organizations, and legal defense funds tackling institutional discrimination.
Scott, who is a philanthropist and author, as well as the ex-wife of Amazon (AMZN)founder Jeff Bezos, noted that her team surveyed more than 6,490 organizations to determine which groups would receive the donations following her decision to accelerate the pace of her donations this year.
The process combined data with the “suggestions and perspectives of field experts, funders and nonprofits and volunteers with decades of experience.”
In the latest round of donation, Scott donated $ 40 million to Morgan State University, a Baltimore-based HBCU, along with gifts to other HBCUs, including Claflin, Virginia State, and Dillard University.
The Morgan State gift is the largest private donation in the history of the university and the second largest donation to a public university in Maryland, according to the school. The gift doubles the school’s endowment, which totaled nearly $ 33 million as of 2017. Endowments for HBCUs tend to be smaller compared to other institutions due to a history of unreasonable funding.
Other organizations on the list included the local chapters of Goodwill, Meals on Wheels, YMCA and United Way; the NAACP; Global Fund for Women; and ACE (Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs), which provides affordable loans to disadvantaged small businesses.
“We are doing this research and our deeper commitment not only to identify organizations with great potential for impact, but also to pave the way for unsolicited and unexpected gifts that are given with complete confidence and no obligation,” said Scott in the statement. post. “Because our research is data-driven and rigorous, our pouring process can be human and gentle.”
Scott is the 18th richest person in the world with a net worth of $ 60.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Its a fortune that has gone up like Amazon’s(AMZN) stock has risen sharply in the pandemic. Scott received a quarter of Bezos’ Amazon stock following their divorce in 2019.
Last year, Scott committed to the Giving Pledge Initiative. Launched by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates, the program encourages the world’s richest people to donate a large portion of their fortunes to charities.
