Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos' Ex, Gave To Wisconsin Charities

A few Wisconsin organizations made a list of hundreds of organizations to receive a donation from philanthropist and novelist MacKenzie Scott.

Scott, ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and one of the world’s wealthiest people, published ‘384 Ways to Help’ on Medium this week.

Scott has donated more than $4.2 billion to 384 organizations, including some in Wisconsin. The organizations span all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, Scott said.

“This pandemic has been a wrecking ball in the lives of Americans already struggling,” she wrote. “Economic losses and health outcomes alike have been worse for women, for people of color, and for people living in poverty. Meanwhile, it has substantially increased the wealth of billionaires.”

Scott selected organizations dedicated to helping others.

"These 384 carefully selected teams have dedicated their lives to helping others, working and volunteering and serving real people face-to-face at bedsides and tables, in prisons and courtrooms and classrooms, on streets and hospital wards and hotlines and frontlines of all types and sizes, day after day after day," she wrote. "They help by delivering vital services, and also through the profound encouragement felt each time a person is seen, valued, and trusted by another human being. This kind of encouragement has a special power when it comes from a stranger, and it works its magic on everyone."

These local charities made the list:

• Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin
• United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County
• YWCA Madison

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