MacKenzie Scott.Photo: Michael Kovac/Getty
MacKenzie Scottdonated $436 million toHabitat for Humanityfor her latestcharitable gift.
Scott, 51, a philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon founderJeff Bezos, made the sizable donation to Habitat for Humanity International and 84 of its U.S. affiliate organizations, marking her largest publicly disclosed donation to date, according to theAssociated Press.
Habitat for Humanity International stated in apress releasethat it will use its portion of the donation, $25 million, to “fundamentally increase the supply of affordable housing and to prioritize advocacy and programmatic efforts that support the millions of individuals increasingly shut out of the housing market.”
MacKenzie Scott.Jörg Carstensen/picture alliance via Getty
“This incredibly generous gift will allow us to dramatically increase capacity and implement programs that will have a multi-generational impact on communities around the U.S. and our global mission for many years to come,” Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, said in a statement.
Reckford added, “With this donation, Habitat is well-positioned to meaningfully advocate for the systemic and societal changes needed to improve equitable access to affordable housing.”
After first hearing that a philanthropist was interested in learning more about the work that they did, one local chapter initially thought it was too good to be true.
Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia CEO Corinne O’Connell recalled feeling suspicious of an email she received in February from an interested philanthropist, and at first thought it could be “a hoax,“Axiosreported.
However, of course the philanthropist turned out to be Scott, who donated $5 million to the chapter — their largest one-time gift — as part of her bigger gift, per the outlet
“Today, we celebrate, and tomorrow, we get back to building,” O’Connell told Axios. “The power of this gift is that we don’t have to pause.”
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Last month, Scottgave $133.5 millionto help fund school services for at-risk students through the organizationCommunities in School, marking the largest donation the nonprofit has ever received.
source: people.com
