MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has announced a new round of charitable donations totaling $640 million, with the majority of the funds going to nonprofits advocating for extreme left-wing causes.
The 361 organizations selected by Scott's foundation, Yield Giving, include groups supporting migrants who commit crimes, promoting the rights of transgender athletes to compete in women's sports, and pushing for clean energy initiatives.
According to an analysis of the awards, migrant-advocacy organizations will receive a combined $122 million for legal aid and other assistance. The Florida Immigrant Coalition, which opposes Governor Ron DeSantis' crackdown on migrants who commit crimes, and the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, which is fighting the state's efforts to increase illegal-migrant enforcement, will each receive $2 million.
Scott's donations also include $117 million to prisoner-advocacy groups and organizations helping jailbirds and ex-cons, as well as $72 million to groups promoting LGBTQ causes, such as championing the rights of biological boys who identify as transgender girls to compete in female sports. An additional $18 million has been earmarked for groups pushing clean energy initiatives.
Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, criticized Scott's use of Bezos' money, saying, "Bezos' wife is using the profits he made through capitalism to [fund] the rope that will hang capitalism." Gonzalez argued that Scott's donations are an example of woke philanthropic groups using their dollars to undermine free-market principles and transform the system away from capitalism.
Scott, who parted ways with Bezos in 2019 with $38.3 billion in Amazon stock, has now handed out over $17 billion of her fortune to various groups. Yield Giving's first round of handouts exceeded Scott's initial pledge, with 361 out of 6,350 applicants receiving awards of either $1 million or $2 million.
Some recipients, such as Megan Peterson, executive director of Gender Justice, celebrated the "gift" from Scott, stating that it "could not come at a more crucial time" as her group fights for the rights of transgender youth to play sports that do not align with their biological gender.
However, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn), who has backed legislation to ensure fairness in female sports by preventing biological boys from participating, called Scott's spending on such lefty causes "unfortunate" but acknowledged that it is her personal money.
In Washington state, 10 organizations were selected to receive a portion of the $640 million pledged by Scott, with nine receiving $2 million each and one receiving $1 million. These organizations focus on various causes, including homelessness, refugee and immigrant support, education, environmental justice, and support for children with developmental delays and disabilities.
Notable recipients include the Council for the Homeless, which provides advocacy and practical solutions for the homeless population in Clark County; East African Community Services, which helps refugees and immigrant families prosper in King County and western Washington; and the Technology Access Foundation (TAF), which aims to eliminate race-based disparities by creating access to "transformative systems of learning" for communities of color.
