Mackenzie Scott’s donations in 2022 run into billions of dollars — but she’s not the only billionaire to give away a huge fortune
If the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic record number of new billionairesthen 2022 is the year of giant billionaires doing charity.
All year long, there has been a steady stream of announcements from billionaires pledging to give unusual pile of cash they have accumulated into groups (often their own funds) set up to combat the enormous challenges facing the world, from fighting climate change to eradicating poverty.
“Giving a billion dollars a year makes you a pretty rare company,” says Elizabeth Dale, an associate professor of nonprofit leadership at Seattle University. Assetadded, “Whenever someone announces a donation of more than a billion dollars in a year, we know they are going to be one of the biggest donors in a typical year.”
Here are the biggest donations the world’s richest people have made this year. This list is not exhaustive and includes only those who have donated north of $1 billion. Notably missing Bernard Arnault and Elon Musk, the world’s first and second richest people at the time of publication.
Warren Buffett
At the annual summer party in June, Warren Buffett announced he had given away another $4 billion worth of stock in his corporation Berkshire Hathaway — day 17order when Buffett makes this annual gift. At the time of announcement, the donation pushed Buffett’s total lifetime philanthropic commitments to $48 billion.
Buffett committed in 2006 to donate 99% of his entire fortune to charities, making annual donations to the same five foundations: the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the NoVo Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda The Gate.
In addition to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – the organization that Buffet served as president and usually donates the largest amount of money to – four other charities run by his three children.
But his charitable contributions didn’t end there for the year. In November, Buffett makes another surprise donate 750 million USD in Berkshire Hathaway stock on the eve of Thanksgiving — the first time the 92-year-old has given his second-biggest gift in the same year.
But unlike his usual annual donation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was conspicuously absent from the list of recipients. Buffett said the timing and recipients of the second donation were no coincidence, and it’s his way of thanking his children for their charitable work.
“I take a personal pride in how much my kids have grown,” Buffett told CNBC. Quick Becky. “I feel good about them knowing I feel good about them. This is the final endorsement of my children, and it is the final statement that my children do not want to become dynastic rich.”
Bill and Melinda Gates
Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates joined Buffett this year in planning to give away his entire fortune.
“As I look to the future, I plan to donate nearly all of my assets to the foundation,” Gates wrote in a tweet in July, when he announced he would donate. Another 20 billion dollars for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“I have an obligation to give back my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact to reduce suffering and improve lives. And I hope others in positions of wealth and privilege will step up in this time as well,” Gates wrote in a tweet.
Gates and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates have committed more than $50 billion to the foundation since 1994. For Bill to achieve his lofty goal of giving away his entire fortune, that means Another 116 billion dollars towards his charity, which fights disease and poverty around the world.
in a blog Posted in JulyGates wrote that the Gates Foundation, which he founded with his wife in 2000, plans to increase annual spending by 50% — to $9 billion by 2026, up from $6 billion today.
“It is clear now that the demand in all the areas in which we work is greater than ever. The great crises of our time require all of us to do more,” wrote Gates, adding that the global setbacks have ranged from the COVID-19 pandemic to the pandemic. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shouldn’t stop people from trying to make the world a better place. “Focusing on being part of the solution is better than giving up in despair,” he wrote.
But no cargo deed goes unpunished. Gates and his foundation have become prominent targets for coronavirus conspiracy theories, including false claims linking him to the origin of the coronavirus or suggesting that he intended to using the COVID vaccine to implant surveillance microchips in billions of people. “You almost have to laugh because it’s so crazy,” Gates said in a BBC interview in May.
Jeff Bezos
Another person joining the list of the richest people in the world giving away all their wealth is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
In November, Bezos announced that he plans to give away most of his $122 billion fortune – after years of criticism for his relative lack of philanthropy when compared to his billionaire peers. Notably, Bezos is absent from the list of signatories to the Giving Pledge, a campaign founded by Buffett and Gates to encourage the world’s richest people to donate half of their net worth to the cause. benevolent.
The world’s fourth-richest person pledges to donate $100 million to country singers Dolly Parton to donate to charities of her choice as part of Bezos’ annual Courage and Civilization awards.
When making the announcement alongside girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, Bezos said: “The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a leveraged way — it’s not easy.
“Building Amazon wasn’t easy. It takes a lot of work and a very smart team. Philanthropy is very similar. It’s really hard and there’s a lot of ways you can do things that don’t work.”
Bezos did not specify how he plans to divide his fortune nor provide any details on the exact cause that may be his biggest focus.
“There’s still a lot we don’t know,” said Benjamin Soskis, senior research associate at the Urban Institute’s Center for Nonprofits and Philanthropy. told CNBCMake It programadded: “If he makes good on his pledge, he will almost certainly become one of the great philanthropists of the first half of the 21st century.st century.”
But part of the move to pledge huge sums of money may be partly due to increasing public pressure to do so following the very public and prolific philanthropic efforts of ex-wife MacKenzie Scott after she Divorce with 58-year-old billionaire.
MacKenzie Scott
Since taking control of her post-divorce assets, Scott has given away more than $12 billion of her $27 billion net worth in just two years.
In the first Media blog post she publishedin what will become a essay series every six months announcing his donation, Scott wrote: “Last year i committed to give back most of my fortune to the society that helped create it, do it thoughtfully, start early and keep it until the safe is empty.”
When the story of her huge donation was first revealed, Scott revealed at the end of March that she has given away another $3.9 billion since June 2021. In average postworld 22rank-the richest person lists her latest recipients, most of whom are underrepresented who live in areas they support and have personal knowledge of the issues they hope to solve decide.
After the shock of her huge donation subsided, she did it again, announcing in one post November Average that she has given away an additional $2 billion to more than 300 organizations over the past seven months.
In one exploding Bloomberg article expose the use of donor-advised funds or charitable investment accounts, which are used by the extremely wealthy to deposit their money for tax benefits when donating to charity without without actually giving money to the poor, Scott was named as one of the few philanthropists who have put the funds to good use.
“Part of the reason why MacKenzie Scott really caught on is because of the way she does it,” says Dale, noting that Scott stands out from her peers because of the speed with which she managed to get his money into the hands of those who needed it. “When she made the first announcement like ‘I gave away $1.6 billion,’ it happened. You have a list of organizations that are receiving that money,” Dale said.
Gautam Adani
The third richest man in the world Gautam Adani make a commitment in june donated 600 billion rupees ($7.7 billion) to a variety of social activities to mark his 60th birthdayorder birthday and in honor of the centenary of the birth of his father, Shantilal Adani.
India’s richest people have previously been criticized for not giving more to charities. The India philanthropy report 2021 of the global consulting firm Bain and Co. found that on average, the country’s super-rich, with a net worth of more than 500 billion rupees, donated 0.5% of their wealth.
The donation immediately placed Adani among the ranks of Western benefactors, who have given away a significant portion of their fortune.
Funds managed by the Adani Foundation will go towards healthcare, education and skills development, with a particular focus on rural areas of India.
“Our experience in planning and implementing large projects, and the lessons learned from the work done by the Adani Foundation, will help us accelerate these programs in a unique way,” Adani said in a statement. a statement in December.
