Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie Scott Team Up for a $40 Million Donation

The ex and future ex of two of the world’s richest men team up to give away $40 million to four organizations promoting gender equality.

Melinda French Gates, the estranged wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott announced the donation together.

The winners were selected through the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge, organized by French Gates investment company Pivotal Ventures and supported by Scott and her science teacher husband Dan Jewett.

Melinda Gates (left) and Mackenzie Bezos (right) team up to donate $40 million to four organizations to advance gender equality (Getty Images/Getty Images)

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Billionaire philanthropist Lynn Schusterman’s family foundation also supported the donation.

“The winners are strong teams working on the front lines and from within communities to help women build power in their lives and careers,” said Scott, who divorced Bezos in 2019 and quickly became the world’s richest woman, in a statement. statement. “And best of all, they’re not alone.”

Scott has made a name for herself since her divorce from Bezos as a charitable trustee with her fortune than Bezos and other tech billionaires.

In June, Scott donated $2.7 billion to hundreds of organizations and in December she gave away another $4.2 billion in donations.

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Scott has a net worth of nearly $64 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bezos remains the richest man in the world, according to Bloomberg.

The recipients of the latest donation were selected from a pool of more than 550 applicants. The winners focus on various aspects of gender equality, including care, technology and career development, higher education and minority communities.

“The overwhelming response to the challenge proves that there is no shortage of transformational ideas about how to accelerate progress for women and girls,” added French Gates. “We can break the patterns of history and promote gender equality, but we must work to lift organizations, like those receiving awards today, that are ready to lift women and girls.”

The Gateses shocked the world in May when they announced their divorce plans. Bill Gates is currently the fourth richest person in the world, with a net worth of approximately $151 billion, according to the Bloomberg index.

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And the mega-billionaire couple runs one of the largest and most powerful charitable organizations in the world, the Bill and Melinda Gates Organization.

It remains unclear exactly how Microsoft’s huge fortune will be divided between the two.

French Gates’ most recent donation through her own investment company could provide her with an avenue to continue her philanthropic endeavors, but separate from the $65 billion Gates organization.

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Last month, Warren Buffett, a longtime philanthropy trustee, resigned from the organization as the messy divorce unfolded.

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And earlier this month, the organization’s CEO, Mark Suzman, announced that French Gates has agreed to leave the foundation within two years if the couple realizes they can no longer work together.