MacKenzie Scott donated $2 billion to charity this year—or a total of $16.5 billion since starting her quest to give away everything ‘until the safe is empty’

BYJORDAN FITZGERALD AND BLOOMBERGDecember 7, 2023 at 4:53 PM EST

MacKenzie Scott donated $2.15 billion to charity over the past year, with gifts going to nonprofits ranging from the Asian American Journalists Association to an abortion-pill provider. 

She’s given to 360 organizations since last December, including numerous legal-aid clinics and community health nonprofits, according to an announcement this week on her website, Yield Giving. She didn’t disclose how much each charity received. 

Unlike many philanthropists, Scott, 53, doesn’t donate money through a foundation, which would be required to disclose more information under Internal Revenue Service regulations.

Since her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — currently the world’s third-richest person with $168.7 billion — Scott has donated more than $16.5 billion to more than 1,900 nonprofits. She’s worth $33.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 

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.”

Bezos, 59, hasn’t signed the pledge, but said last year he’d donate the majority of his fortune over his lifetime.