(People) - MacKenzie Scott has donated nearly $2 billion to over 300 organizations in the past seven months.
Scott — who's currently ranked no. 58 on the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index, with a net worth of $22.8 billion — made the announcement in a Medium post on Monday. The news was shared nearly two months after she filed for divorce from Seattle school teacher Dan Jewett, her second husband.
"Over the last seven months, with the help of my team, I gave $1,990,800,000 to 343 organizations supporting the voices and opportunities of people from underserved communities," she wrote, noting that many of the gifts were made to funds, which "pool donations and spread them across a diverse group of smaller organizations working toward a common cause."
"The funds we picked look for teams with lived experience in the issues they're addressing, as we did when selecting the other non-profits in this giving cycle, and the 1,200+ recipients before them," added Scott, 52.
One of the beneficiaries of her generosity were public schools in Chicago, which got a combined $48 million, according to The Chicago Tribune.
$25 million was donated to Chicago Public Schools, while $16 million was given to the Noble Network of Charter Schools and $7 million to LEARN Charter School Network, per the newspaper.
"We are honored and extremely grateful that Ms. Scott has recognized the hard work of our teachers, principals and entire staff on behalf of more than 320,000 Chicago children," Mary Fergus, a spokesperson for Chicago Public School, said in a statement, according to the outlet.
Scott's latest round of charitable giving also included a record-breaking $84.5 Million Donation to Girl Scouts of the USA and 29 of its local branches.
"We are so appreciative," GSUSA CEO Sofia Chang said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. "We're excited to prove how MacKenzie's investment in girls will change the world — because when one girl succeeds, we all succeed."
This week, Scott's first husband, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, made a big announcement of his own, sharing that he plans to give away most of his $124 billion fortune over his lifetime.
The Amazon founder, 58, told CNN exclusively that he will primarily focus on fighting climate change and supporting others who can help improve the deep divide over social and political issues.
Although he did not go into specifics, he said he's "building the capacity to be able to give away this money."
"The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way," he added. "So you have to think about it carefully and you have to have brilliant people on the team."
Since her divorce from Bezos, with whom she shares four children, Scott has made many generous donations and signed the Giving Pledge, a promise hundreds of the world's richest people made to donate the majority of their earnings to various charitable causes.
Forbes estimates she has given away $14.4 billion since their 2019 divorce.
Despite his recent announcement, CNN pointed out that Bezos has not signed the Giving Pledge.
Scott filed a petition for divorce from Jewett in Washington State's King County Superior Court in September, The New York Times previously reported. The split came just over a year after they tied the knot.
The terms of the separation have not been made public, but the Times previously noted that Jewett did not contest the divorce.
By Maria Pasquini
November 17, 2022
