Steph Deschamps /. March 23, 2022
American philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of multibillionaire and former Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, has donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for the homeless, the organization announced Tuesday.
The NGO said that $25 million would go to programs it runs throughout the United States to help the poorest people obtain decent housing and the remaining $411 million would go to 84 branches in different states. The money raised will also be used to support the NGO's work around the world, including helping Ukrainian refugees who fled their country after the invasion of Russia.
With this donation, Habitat is well positioned to effectively advocate for the systemic and societal changes needed to improve equitable access to affordable housing, Habitat President Jonathan Reckford said in a statement.
MacKenzie Scott, whose fortune is estimated at $49.3 billion by Forbes magazine, has pledged to donate at least half of her wealth to charity. She has already made public donations to hundreds of organizations that work in a variety of areas, including food banks, financial and credit services for disadvantaged communities, and anti-discrimination legal groups.
A large part of the fortune of MacKenzie Scott, 51, comes from the economic fallout of his divorce with Jeff Bezos, finalized in July 2019 and which had allowed him to receive at the time the equivalent of 38 billion dollars in Amazon shares. Their value has risen sharply as the online retail giant's stock has soared on Wall Street.