MacKenzie Scott makes a record $275 million donation to Planned Parenthood
Billionaire philanthropist and novelist MacKenzie Scott has donated $275 million to the reproductive health care nonprofit Planned Parenthood — the largest-ever gift made to the organization.
In an announcement Wednesday in a Medium post, Scott detailed her latest donations to 465 organizations and institutions, including Habitat for Humanity, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Urban Teachers.
She says the primary focus of her philanthropy is to support "underrepresented people from groups of all kinds."
"The cause of equity has no sides. Nor can it have a single solution," Scott said in her post.
"We are all human. And we all have enormous energy to devote to helping and protecting those we love," she also said.
Scott, who divorced Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos in 2019, so far has given away more than $12 billion to nearly 1,200 groups. In her divorce from Bezos, she received a 4% stake in Amazon. Currently, her estimated net worth is $48.3 billion.
The large donation was made to Planned Parenthood's national office and its 21 regional affiliates, a move that is part of Scott's 2019 pledge to give away the majority of her wealth.
"We are incredibly grateful for Ms. Scott's extraordinary philanthropic investment in Planned Parenthood, as a critical part of the public health infrastructure," Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement.
The donation, McGill Johnson says, will support the nonprofit's efforts to improve health equity for its patients of color by eliminating racial and structural barriers in the community. [Copyright 2022 NPR]
