Oregon Nonprofits Among Grant Recipients From MacKenzie Scott’s Recent $2.7 Billion Donation

by Elisa Klein | Aug 1, 2021 | Events, Features, News

Portland, OR. Artists and arts organizations in Oregon are receiving a $4 million gift from Pacific Northwest philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. Her most recent donations total more than $2.7 billion for 286 nonprofits, most with missions that have historically received little from philanthropy.

Scott is the former wife of Jeff Bezos, and one of the world’s richest people. They were married for 25 years. She was one of Amazon’s first employees and was heavily involved in the company’s early days. The couple are parents to four children.

The donation to the Oregon Community Foundations (OCF) Arts and Culture Recovery Fund will help arts organizations and individual artists impacted by Covid-19, with an emphasis on communities of color, people with disabilities, immigrants and refugees, and rural, LGBTQ+ and low-income populations.

“We’re humbled and grateful for this incredibly generous contribution to support the arts and culture community across Oregon,” said Jerry Tischleder, OCF program officer for arts and culture. “The Oregon Arts and Culture Recovery Fund has provided significant support to the field so far, but the losses and need related to COVID-19 are staggering. We look forward to continue putting these much-needed funds out into the community.”

OCF was among 286 “high-impact organizations in categories and communities that have been historically underfunded and overlooked,” according to Scott’s blog post announcing the gifts.

Scott announced that she has focused the latest giving on two- and four-year colleges and universities with a record of successfully educating students who come from low-income and marginalized backgrounds and to religious and other nonprofits that are focused on working with organizations of other faiths and ethnic backgrounds to bridge divides between ethnic and religious groups.

Scott, a novelist and philanthropist, holds tens of billions of dollars in Amazon stock. In 2019 she signed the Giving Pledge to give away most of her wealth. The Giving Pledge is a commitment by the world’s richest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to giving back. It was started by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett in 2010 and other signatories such as Star Wars creator George Lucas.

In the spring of 2021 Scott married Dan Jewett, a science teacher at the private school that MacKenzie’s four children have attended.

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