Jeff Bezos' ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, who has donated about 58 million Amazon shares, on who she thinks of every time she makes a huge donation

Mackenzie Scott, former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has said that her approach to large-scale philanthropy is shaped by acts of kindness she received during her early years. In an essay published on her philanthropic organisation, Yield Giving website in October, Scott said she often thinks about the people who helped her when she struggled financially as a college student. She recalled borrowing money from her college roommate to avoid dropping out and receiving free dental care from a local dentist when she could not afford treatment. “It is these ripple effects that make imagining the power of any of our own acts of kindness impossible,” Scott wrote in the essay. “Whose generosity did I think of every time I made every one of the thousands of gifts I’ve been able to give?”“It was the local dentist who offered me free dental work when he saw me securing a broken tooth with denture glue in college. It was the college roommate who found me crying, and acted on her urge to loan me a thousand dollars to keep me from having to drop out in my sophomore year.”Scott, one of the most active philanthropists in recent times, has donated about 58 million Amazon shares since 2020, significantly reducing the stake she received following her divorce from Bezos in 2019. After the divorce, Mackenzie Scott received roughly a 4% stake in Amazon, amounting to about 139 million shares at the time. She has since cut that holding by around 42%. Despite this, Scott remains worth close to $28 billion, even after donating about $26 billion through her Yield Giving organisation, which she launched in 2022.Yield Giving has supported thousands of organisations across areas such as education, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), disaster relief, and community development. In recent months alone, Scott donated more than $400 million to education- and DEI-focused groups, with several recipients receiving the largest donations in their history.Recently, Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator shared an X post writing: "MacKenzie Scott has given away $26B faster than anyone in history — with no oversight, and no accountability for the chaos that follows. This is not stewardship. Real philanthropy requires real care and attention. Pour sugar on the floor? You get ants.". The post caught the attention of Elon Musk who replied in affirmation. "Yup," he repied endorsing Tan's critique of MacKenzie Scott's $26.4 billion donations since 2019.