34 Facts About MacKenzie Scott

MacKenzie Scott is an American novelist, philanthropist, co-founder of Amazon, and ex-wife of Jeff Bezos.

MacKenzie Scott was named one of Times 100 most influential people in 2020 and one of the world's 100 most powerful women by Forbes in 2021 and 2023.

In 2006, MacKenzie Scott won an American Book Award for her 2005 debut novel, The Testing of Luther Albright.

MacKenzie Scott has been executive director of Bystander Revolution, an anti-bullying organization, since she founded it in 2014.

MacKenzie Scott is committed to giving at least half of her wealth to charity as a signatory to the Giving Pledge.

MacKenzie Scott made $5.8 billion in charitable gifts in 2020, one of the largest annual distributions by a private individual to working charities.

MacKenzie Scott Tuttle was born on April 7,1970, in San Francisco, California, to Holiday Robin, a homemaker, and Jason Baker Tuttle, a financial planner.

MacKenzie Scott was named after her maternal grandfather, G Scott Cuming, who worked as an executive and general counsel at El Paso Natural Gas.

MacKenzie Scott says she remembers writing seriously at the age of six, when she wrote The Book Worm, a 142-page book that was destroyed in a flood.

MacKenzie Scott was one of Amazon's early key contributors, and was heavily involved in Amazon's early days, working on the company's name, business plan, accounts, shipping early orders, and negotiating the company's first freight contract.

In 2005, MacKenzie Scott wrote her debut novel, The Testing of Luther Albright, for which she won an American Book Award in 2006.

MacKenzie Scott said that the book took her ten years to write as she was helping Bezos build Amazon and raising her family.

MacKenzie Scott became the third-wealthiest woman in the world and one of the wealthiest people overall in April 2019.

In July 2020, MacKenzie Scott was ranked the 22nd-richest person in the world by Forbes with a net worth estimated at $36 billion.

In 2021, MacKenzie Scott then married Lakeside School science teacher Dan Jewett.

In September 2022, MacKenzie Scott filed for divorce, which was finalized in January 2023.

In May 2019, MacKenzie Scott signed the Giving Pledge, a charitable-giving campaign in which she undertook to give away most of her wealth to charity over her lifetime or in her will.

In December 2020, less than six months later, MacKenzie Scott stated that she had donated a further $4.15 billion in the previous four months to 384 organizations, with a focus on providing support to people affected by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing long-term systemic inequities.

MacKenzie Scott announced another $2.7 billion in giving to 286 organizations in June 2021.

Forbes reported that MacKenzie Scott donated $8.5 billion across 780 organizations in one year.

In February 2022, nine organizations announced gifts from MacKenzie Scott totaling $264.5 million.

MacKenzie Scott has made donations to organizations in Kenya, India, Brazil, Micronesia, and Latin America.

In September 2022, MacKenzie Scott donated two of her Beverly Hills homes, worth a combined $55 million, to the California Community Foundation, which provides grants to mission-based nonprofits in Los Angeles.

In October 2022, MacKenzie Scott donated $84.5 million to Girl Scouts of the USA and its 29 local councils.

In March 2023, MacKenzie Scott announced an "open call" for community-focused nonprofits with annual budgets between $1 and $5 million that she could fund.

MacKenzie Scott planned to make unrestricted $1 million donations to 250 nonprofits selected in the process.

Lever for Change announced that MacKenzie Scott's open call for grants prompted 6,000 applicants.

MacKenzie Scott ended up donating $640 million to 361 small nonprofits, giving more than double what the original open call planned for, with 279 non-profits received $2 million each while 82 groups were given $1 million each.

MacKenzie Scott donated nearly $2.2 billion in 2023 to 360 organizations supporting early learning, access to affordable housing, race and gender equity, health equity, and civic and social engagement.

MacKenzie Scott donated $5 million to the Hawaii Community Foundation.

In December 2024, MacKenzie Scott announced that she began to direct her advisors to invest her wealth in for-profit companies and funds seeking solutions to societal challenges.

MacKenzie Scott has pushed the focus away from the giver, and onto the nonprofits, she is trying to help.

In December 2021, MacKenzie Scott faced backlash for a Medium post when she stated she would not reveal how much money she has donated or to whom.

MacKenzie Scott subsequently announced that her team would build a website to share details of her philanthropy.