MacKenzie Scott renews giving after unloading $8 billion of stock

Mega-philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave $65 million to a New York-based nonprofit after unloading billions worth of Amazon.com Inc. stock.

The donation, made in late October to community-development organization Local Initiatives Support Corp., or LISC, is her largest known gift so far in 2024. The year has otherwise been relatively quiet for someone who usually gives away billions of dollars annually.

That may change after Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, unloaded more than 45 million shares in the online retailing giant, according to a filing last week. Those shares were worth nearly $8.4 billion as of Sept. 30, the date reported on the filing. She's worth $39.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Scott, 54, is famous for her large grants to small nonprofits with little of the red tape that's typical of big philanthropy.

In March, she said she'd given away $640 million to 361 nonprofits selected from a pool of more than 6,000 organizations that applied for grants. Those 361 grants are the only ones listed on her website, Yield Giving, for 2024. She's given more than $17.3 billion over the past several years, according to the site.

The donation to LISC is its biggest ever and comes as more nonprofits announce Scott quietly gave them seven- and eight-figure gifts over the past few months. The Corporation for Supportive Housing said it got $40 million from Scott in September and Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs received $10 million that same month. In October, the Nonprofit Finance Fund announced a $22 million gift from the billionaire and Coastal Enterprises Inc. said it got "an unexpected donation of $15 million."

The latter three organizations, and LISC, also received gifts from Scott in 2020.

"The ability to have unrestricted giving like this frankly allows us to unlock and tap into the American Dream for everyday Americans across our country," said LISC Chief Executive Officer Michael Pugh.

LISC leveraged its last $40 million gift from Scott into $1 billion in total development, with a focus on housing stability in rural areas, he said. "We intend that with this $65 million we can continue that very important work."

Usually Scott's huge cash inflows from her Amazon sales are largely offset by her big charitable gifts, but the vast majority of the $8.4 billion is so far unaccounted for. There are no records of any political donations from Scott through Oct. 16, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Two representatives for Scott who are named on filings for the billionaire's limited liability company Lost Horse didn't respond to a request for comment on whether Scott had plans for how to spend the cash.