tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/mackenzie-bezos-71458/articlesMacKenzie Bezos – The Conversation2021-04-27T15:54:07Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1579272021-04-27T15:54:07Z2021-04-27T15:54:07ZWomen’s philanthropy: an invisible phenomenon<p>MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, has been praised recently for her great generosity – the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/mackenzie-scott-philanthropy.html"><em>New York Times</em></a> cited more than US$6 billion (£4.3 billion) in charitable donations.</p>
<p>Yet, as <a href="https://twitter.com/robreich/status/1341117076178493440">Rob Reich</a>, a professor of political science at Stanford University and an expert on philanthropy, pointed out on Twitter, while Scott’s donations in 2020 were 15 times greater than those of the largest US foundations (the Ford Foundation distributed US$350 million in 2020), we know little about her philanthropy. Paradoxically, women’s philanthropy has long been invisible, even though it dates back centuries and has always been important. </p>
<h2>A lack of research</h2>
<p>There is a lack of research on the topic, but historians show that women of power already provided <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-le-moyen-age-2011-3.htm">patronage in the middle ages</a> and the Renaissance (think Isabeau de Bavière, Catherine de Médicis and others). In the 17th and 18th centuries, nuns (or <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/clio/10647">“daughters of charity”</a>) offered help where needed, and women philanthropists were operating in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27927531?refreqid=excelsior%3A188e6e41ce9ed904f1d24a072417f1fe&seq=1">philanthropic roles</a> have allowed women to operate in the public sphere, even at times when they were largely confined to private life and excluded from <a href="https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/rf/2011-v24-n2-rf5005937/1007763ar/">political arenas</a>.</p>
<p>Some research emphasises the emancipatory power of these activities, particularly at a time when the development of <a href="https://www.cairn.info/journal-travail-genre-et-societes-2009-2-page-135.htm">reform philanthropy</a> was concomitant with that of the feminist movements. Others, however, consider philanthropy, which is marked by paternalism, to be a <a href="https://www.editions-harmattan.fr/index.asp?navig=catalogue&obj=livre&no=29306">hindrance</a> to the emancipation of women.</p>
<p>There is also a lack of contemporary research, although the <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/womens-philanthropy-institute/index.html">Women’s Philanthropy Institute</a> at Indiana University and the <a href="https://philab.uqam.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Bulletin-3-Les-femmes-et-la-philanthropie.pdf">PhiLab</a> at the University of Montreal are changing that.</p>
<h2>Structurally invisible</h2>
<p>Even the way we think about women’s philanthropy contributes to its lack of visibility. We <a href="https://wnywomensfoundation.org/app/uploads/2017/08/6.-How-and-Why-Women-Give.pdf">compare the way women give to the way men give</a> rather than analysing their activities in their own right. We know, for example, that “women give time, men give money”. Women give to a wider variety of organisations, whereas men’s philanthropy is more concentrated, and women tend to be more involved in collective forms of giving, such as giving circles, than men. </p>
<p>These patterns tend to make us believe that women’s generosity is homogeneous. It hides the diversity of situations, essentialising the very category of women’s philanthropy. However, numerous studies have confirmed the major role women play in voluntary activities – <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-travail-genre-et-societes-2018-2-page-169.htm">free and invisible work</a>.</p>
<p>Women’s philanthropy is also hidden by the fact that the philanthropic field is, like wider society, strongly structured around couples. In the top 50 donors for 2018, there are 22 couples, 27 single men, one family and zero single women. A large number of foundations are set up by couples but it is often the man who is in the spotlight, especially in the media – one thinks of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation or the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Abby Aldrich Rockefeller" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395018/original/file-20210414-20-1if6vtx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abby Aldrich Rockefeller had different priorities to her husband.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abby_Aldrich_Rockefeller#/media/File:Abby_Rockefeller_LCCN2014718060.tif">Wikipedia/US Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nor do we often know how spouses divide up their roles. Sometimes decisions will be made jointly but also separately, like <a href="https://books.google.fr/books?id=xx9SRF1azEIC&pg=PA212&lpg=PA212&dq=kathleen+mccarthy+abby+rockefeller+cloisters+husband">Abby Aldrich Rockefeller</a>, who created MoMA, while her husband, who “hated modern art”, preferred to invest in the Cloisters, the Met’s medieval collection. This makes it difficult to analyse women’s philanthropy.</p>
<p>Moreover, for a long time, women’s philanthropy was heavily dependent on men’s wealth, as women could not earn or spend their <a href="https://www.scienceshumaines.com/chronologie-les-droits-des-femmes-en-france_fr_14412.html">own money</a> without a man’s permission. While women’s work contributes to the production and reproduction of family wealth, capital in the 21st century remains <a href="https://www.editionsladecouverte.fr/le_genre_du_capital-9782348044380">resolutely male</a>.</p>
<p>Philanthropy is dependent on this state of affairs. Some great philanthropists are part of this tradition, such as Liliane Bettencourt a few years ago (heir to the fortune of her father Eugène Schueller, founder of L'Oréal), Laurene Powell Jobs (heir to her husband Steve Jobs, founder of Apple), Alice Walton (fortune inherited from her father, founder of Walmart supermarkets). But today there are more and more women who have built their own fortunes through their work. They are developing their own philanthropy, regardless of their marital status – for example Sheryl Sandberg (chief operating officer of Facebook), Oprah Winfrey (presenter and producer) or Sara Blakely (founder of Spanx).</p>
<h2>An opportunity for the philanthropic sector?</h2>
<p>Today, women’s philanthropy is gaining visibility and offering a transformative opportunity for the sector.</p>
<p>By shifting towards philanthropy that centres around providing financial support and is independent of men, women are more free to take up their own causes. That sometimes means using philanthropy to address the consequences of gender dominance, such as the fact that women have less access to health or education. It sometimes take a more political avenue, working upstream and using “feminist philanthropy” to support efforts to defend women’s rights. </p>
<p>This is all the more important because it’s a relatively little-supported cause in general. In 2017, only 7% of French foundations <a href="https://www.fondationdefrance.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/etude_fondations_et_fonds_de_dotation.pdf">described themselves</a> as acting to support women and girls, and in the United States only 1.6% of total donations go to <a href="https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/24545/wgi20-report.pdf">this cause</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, women’s philanthropy is attracting greater media coverage and is being taken more seriously. Networks of women philanthropists are being formed, particularly in the United States, to exchange ideas and support each other. Figures such as <a href="https://histphil.org/2019/10/21/mccarthy-on-the-moment-of-lift-how-empowering-women-changes-the-world-2019/">Melinda Gates</a> are speaking out. Gates operated in her husband’s shadow for a long time but now publicly talks about the work she had to do within their foundation to be heard.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Global Business and Philanthropy Leaders Forum on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment. New York, September 2018." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C2048%2C1355&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391770/original/file-20210325-15-1v9wrxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly: Global Business and Philanthropy Leaders Forum on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. New York, September 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UN Women/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These developments are leading to the emergence of new practical guides for professionals hoping to raise funds <a href="https://store.case.org/PersonifyEbusiness/Store/Product-Details/productId/1103283092">from women</a> – who are a seen as a new “market” to target, especially since women’s fortunes are growing rapidly. In 2019, the ranking of the world’s wealthiest people included a record number of <a href="https://philab.uqam.ca/blogue-accueil/avons-nous-reellement-saisi-le-potentiel-des-femmes-dans-le-secteur-de-la-philanthropie/">244 women</a>.</p>
<p>And by practising philanthropy differently, women are said by some to be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/30/style/mackenzie-scott-prisclila-chan-zuckerberg-melinda-gates-philanthropy.html">transforming the philanthropic sector itself</a>. Scott’s spending is revealing in this sense. She went against the grain of her husband, who was long considered ungenerous – even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/28/jeff-bezos-amazon-rich-charity-warren-buffett">“stingy”</a>. And, unlike the great philanthropists who often give to prestigious institutions, such as their university or a major museum, Scott gave to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/us/mackenzie-scott-college-donations.html">modest institutions in real need</a>. Crucially, she also made unrestricted gifts – a rare occurrence in the field – allowing recipients to decide how to use the funds.</p>
<p>What emerges is a challenge to traditional elite philanthropy – that of white men over 50, seeking recognition and power, who often focus on their own desires rather than the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0899764007300386">needs of recipients</a>. In line with what <a href="https://www.alliancemagazine.org/blog/a-mirror-to-our-field-my-five-point-plan-for-the-future-of-philanthropy/">some professionals</a> are calling for, the new women’s philanthropy marks a real paradigm shift, questioning power relations and making it more committed to social justice.</p>
<h2>The gender lens</h2>
<p>The emergence of a new generation of high-profile women philanthropists is not only helping us understand the power relations that are specific to philanthropy, as well as the way women’s work is made invisible, but also showing, in the way women philanthropists spend, that the emancipation and affirmation of women contributes to building a more just and egalitarian society.</p>
<p>Viewing philanthropy through a gender lens also means thinking about philanthropy beyond that of the great billionaires. It is to take an interest in those who contribute, often in the shadows, to helping others in different ways, to give a voice to these invisible people in philanthropy – invisible donors, professionals but also recipients – to change our perspective to see philanthropy in its diversity and complexity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157927/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Monier ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Women’s philanthropy, which has always been very important, has remained invisible for a long time. There are many reasons for this paradox.Anne Monier, Docteure en sciences sociales, Chercheuse à la Chaire Philanthropie de l'ESSEC, spécialiste de la philanthropie, de la sociologie du transnational, des politiques culturelles, ESSEC Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1522062020-12-16T20:52:05Z2020-12-16T20:52:05Z5 ways MacKenzie Scott’s $5.8 billion commitment to social and economic justice is a model for other donors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375535/original/file-20201216-15-1csl6on.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=69%2C37%2C4124%2C2885&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The philanthropist is giving away billions of dollars quickly to help people like these Floridians seeking donated food.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-aerial-view-from-a-drone-volunteers-load-boxes-of-news-photo/1230043517">Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The author and <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/384-ways-to-help-45d0b9ac6ad8">philanthropist MacKenzie Scott</a> announced on Dec. 15 that she had given almost US$4.2 billion to hundreds of nonprofits. It was her second announcement of this kind since she first publicly discussed her giving intentions in <a href="https://theconversation.com/mackenzie-bezoss-17-billion-pledge-tops-a-growing-list-of-women-giving-big-117964">May of 2019</a>.</p>
<p>In July 2020, Scott revealed that she’d already given away nearly <a href="https://medium.com/@mackenzie_scott/116-organizations-driving-change-67354c6d733d">$1.7 billion</a> to 116 organizations, many of which focused on racial justice, women’s rights, LGBTQ equality, democracy and climate change. All told, her 2020 philanthropy totals more than $5.8 billion.
Scott directed her latest round of giving to <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/384-ways-to-help-45d0b9ac6ad8">384 organizations</a> to support people disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. She made dozens of gifts to food banks, United Way chapters, YMCAs and YWCAs – organizations that have seen increased demand for services and, in some cases, <a href="https://afpglobal.org/half-charities-expecting-drop-donations-2020-and-beyond">declines in philanthropic gifts</a>.</p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://medium.com/@mackenzie_scott/116-organizations-driving-change-67354c6d733d">two blog</a> <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/116-organizations-driving-change-67354c6d733d">posts she has written</a> to break the news, Scott has encouraged donors of all means to join her, whether those gifts are money or time.</p>
<p>Previously married to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, the philanthropist announced in July that from now on she’ll be using her middle name as her new last name. She left it up to the causes she’s funding to reveal precise totals for each gift.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/morgan-state-university-receives-historic-gift-of-40m-from-philanthropist-mackenzie-scott-301193421.html">Morgan State University</a> and <a href="https://www.cbs19news.com/story/43063099/mackenzie-scott-donates-30m-to-virginia-state-university">Virginia State University</a>, two of several historically Black colleges and universities receiving her donations, said these were the biggest gifts they’d ever gotten from an individual donor. A number of her gifts are also funding tribal colleges as well as community colleges.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tu70lmIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholar of philanthropy</a>, I believe that Scott is modeling five best practices for <a href="https://resourcegeneration.org/what-we-do/social-justice-philanthropy-and-giving/">social change giving</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="ywfjW" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ywfjW/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>1. Don’t attach strings</h2>
<p>All of Scott’s gifts – many in the millions or tens of millions, like the $30 million she gave <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/us/hbcus-largest-donation-history-mackenzie-scott-trnd/index.html">Hampton University</a> and the $40 million to the <a href="https://www.lisc.org/our-stories/story/mackenzie-scott-transformative-gift-lisc">Local Initiatives Support Corporation</a>, which advocates for and builds affordable housing – were made without restrictions. Rather than specify a purpose, as <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/power_and_pleasure_of_unrestricted_funding#">many large donors</a> do, Scott made it clear that she trusts the organizations’ leaders by providing absolute flexibility in terms of how to use her money to pursue their missions. This hands-off approach <a href="https://theconversation.com/nonprofits-that-scrimp-on-overhead-arent-necessarily-better-than-those-spending-more-111700">gives nonprofits</a> an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764007300386">unusual amount of freedom</a> to innovate while equipping them to <a href="https://theconversation.com/national-survey-shows-that-social-service-nonprofits-are-trying-to-help-more-people-on-smaller-budgets-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-and-economic-downturn-unfold-138252">weather crises like the coronavirus pandemic</a> without stringent restrictions imposed by donors. </p>
<h2>2. Champion representation</h2>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/@mackenzie_scott/116-organizations-driving-change-67354c6d733d">According to Scott</a>, 91% of the racial equity organizations she funded in her initial round of massive giving, such as the Movement for Black Lives and LatinoJustice, are run by leaders of color. All of the LGBTQ equity organizations, such as the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Transgender Law Center, that she’s backing are led by LGBTQ leaders. And 83% of the gender equity organizations, such as the Indian nonprofit <a href="https://www.educategirls.ngo/">Educate Girls</a>, are run by women. She says this approach brings “lived experience to solutions for imbalanced social systems.” Backing groups led by people directly affected by an issue is a common tenet of social justice giving at a time when organizations led by people of color <a href="https://www.bridgespan.org/insights/library/philanthropy/disparities-nonprofit-funding-for-leaders-of-color">receive less funding than white-led groups</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, some of her other gifts to grassroots organizations like <a href="https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/song/">Southerners on New Ground</a>, an LGBTQ community-organizing nonprofit, and Southern Partners Fund direct support to a region of the U.S. <a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/philanthropy-in-the-south/">that is often overlooked by donors and foundations</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A participant holds a 'Listen to Black Women' sign at a protest in Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn, N.Y." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C46%2C2932%2C1494&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To support these causes, Scott sought out nonprofits led by people from the communities involved.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/participant-holding-a-listen-to-black-women-sign-at-the-news-photo/1224873256">Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>3. Act first, talk later</h2>
<p>Rather than making lengthy announcements about her plans, Scott chose to distribute this money rapidly and directly. Unlike philanthropic peers like Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, or Bill and Melinda Gates, Scott’s first round of giving wasn’t channeled through a <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/2/11/21133298/bill-gates-melinda-gates-money-foundation">large-scale foundation</a> or other entity, like the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/14/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-what-is-it-doing-so-far.html">Chan Zuckerberg Initiative</a>, bearing her own name or that of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-buffett-charities/warren-buffett-donates-2-9-billion-to-gates-foundation-family-charities-idUSKBN2492AA">another billionaire</a>. And when she made her public announcement, the gifts were already made.</p>
<h2>4. Don’t obsess about scale</h2>
<p>Many of the organizations receiving these gifts are relatively small in scale and lack widespread name recognition. The multiracial justice group <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/943311784">Forward Together</a> and the Campaign for Female Education, a global aid group often called <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/542033897">CAMFED</a>, for example, until recently operated on annual budgets of $5.5 million or less, while the <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/472802851">Millennial Action Project</a> had an even smaller budget.</p>
<h2>5. Leverage more than money</h2>
<p>Philanthropy that’s intended to bring about social change inherently expresses the donor’s values, Scott acknowledged in her announcement. She also recognized her immense privilege, highlighting the need to address societal structures that sustain inequality. And <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/womens-philanthropy-institute/research/all-in.html">like the many women donors I’ve interviewed and studied</a>, she is using her position as the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-28/mackenzie-bezos-donates-1-7-billion-to-charity-within-months?sref=Hjm5biAW">world’s second-wealthiest woman</a> to amplify the voices of the leaders and groups she supported. Her goal is to encourage others to give, join or volunteer to support those same causes.</p>
<p>As Scott noted, the issues her philanthropy addresses are complex and will require sustained and broad-based efforts to solve.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article published on <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-takeaways-from-mackenzie-scotts-1-7-billion-in-support-for-social-justice-causes-143659">July 30, 2020.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152206/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth J. Dale has received funding from the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation via Indiana University, and The Giving USA Foundation for her research on philanthropy. The views expressed in this essay are strictly her own and do not reflect policy stances of Seattle University.</span></em></p>By not attaching any strings to the money, championing representation and generally taking care to respect nonprofit leaders, she’s following five best practices.Elizabeth J. Dale, Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Leadership, Seattle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1436592020-07-30T12:13:12Z2020-07-30T12:13:12Z5 takeaways from MacKenzie Scott’s $1.7 billion in support for social justice causes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350291/original/file-20200729-21-kzplbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C100%2C3843%2C1896&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jeff Bezos's ex-wife is funding efforts to dismantle racism and fight homophobia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-take-part-in-a-demonstration-of-black-queer-and-news-photo/1227782055">Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The author and <a href="https://medium.com/@mackenzie_scott/116-organizations-driving-change-67354c6d733d">philanthropist MacKenzie Scott</a> has announced that she’s disbursed nearly US$1.7 billion to 116 organizations, since first publicly discussing her giving intentions in <a href="https://theconversation.com/mackenzie-bezoss-17-billion-pledge-tops-a-growing-list-of-women-giving-big-117964">May of 2019</a>. Most of the organizations aim to advance racial, gender and economic equity, are dedicated to dealing with climate change, support democracy or are tied to other generally progressive causes.</p>
<p>In the public blog post she wrote to break the news, Scott encouraged donors of all financial means to join her. Previously known as MacKenzie Bezos, before her divorce from Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, the philanthropist also announced that from now on she’ll be using her middle name as her new last name. She left it up to the causes she’s funding to reveal precise totals for each gift. <a href="https://newsroom.howard.edu/newsroom/article/12951/howard-university-receives-transformative-gift-philanthropist-mackenzie-scott">Howard University</a> and <a href="https://www.wsfa.com/2020/07/28/m-gift-is-largest-tuskegee-universitys-nearly-year-history/">Tuskegee University</a>, two of several historically Black colleges and universities receiving her donations, said these were the biggest gifts they’d ever gotten from an individual donor.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tu70lmIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholar of philanthropy</a>, I believe that Scott is modeling five best practices for <a href="https://resourcegeneration.org/what-we-do/social-justice-philanthropy-and-giving/">social change giving</a>.</p>
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<h2>1. Don’t attach strings</h2>
<p>All of Scott’s 116 gifts – many in the millions or tens of millions, like the $30 million she gave <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/us/hbcus-largest-donation-history-mackenzie-scott-trnd/index.html">Hampton University</a> and the $40 million to the <a href="https://www.lisc.org/our-stories/story/mackenzie-scott-transformative-gift-lisc">Local Initiatives Support Corporation</a>, which advocates for and builds affordable housing, were made without restrictions. Rather than specify a purpose, as <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/power_and_pleasure_of_unrestricted_funding#">many large donors</a> do, Scott made it clear that she trusts the organizations’ leaders by providing absolute flexibility in terms of how to use her money to pursue their missions. This hands-off approach <a href="https://theconversation.com/nonprofits-that-scrimp-on-overhead-arent-necessarily-better-than-those-spending-more-111700">gives nonprofits</a> an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764007300386">unusual amount of freedom</a> to innovate while equipping them to <a href="https://theconversation.com/national-survey-shows-that-social-service-nonprofits-are-trying-to-help-more-people-on-smaller-budgets-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-and-economic-downturn-unfold-138252">weather crises like the coronavirus pandemic</a>. </p>
<h2>2. Champion representation</h2>
<p>According to Scott, 91% of the racial equity organizations she funded, such as the Movement for Black Lives and LatinoJustice, are run by leaders of color. All of the LGBTQ+ equity organizations, such as the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Transgender Law Center, that she’s backing are led by LGBTQ+ leaders. And 83% of the gender equity organizations, such as the Indian nonprofit <a href="https://www.educategirls.ngo/">Educate Girls</a>, are run by women. She says this approach brings “lived experience to solutions for imbalanced social systems.” Backing groups led by people directly affected by an issue is a common tenet of social justice giving at a time when organizations led by people of color <a href="https://www.bridgespan.org/insights/library/philanthropy/disparities-nonprofit-funding-for-leaders-of-color">receive less funding than white-led groups</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, some of her other gifts to grassroots organizations like <a href="https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/song/">Southerners on New Ground</a>, an LGBTQ community-organizing nonprofit, direct support to a region of the U.S. <a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/philanthropy-in-the-south/">that is often overlooked by donors and foundations</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A participant holds a 'Listen to Black Women' sign at a protest in Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn, NY." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C46%2C2932%2C1494&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350270/original/file-20200729-33-n6h211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To support these causes, Scott sought out nonprofits led by people from the communities involved.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/participant-holding-a-listen-to-black-women-sign-at-the-news-photo/1224873256">Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Act first, talk later</h2>
<p>Rather than making lengthy announcements about her plans, Scott chose to distribute this money rapidly and directly. Unlike her philanthropic peers like Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, or Bill and Melinda Gates, Scott’s first round of giving wasn’t channeled through a <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/2/11/21133298/bill-gates-melinda-gates-money-foundation">large-scale foundation</a> or other entity, like the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/14/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-what-is-it-doing-so-far.html">Chan Zuckerberg Initiative</a>, bearing her own name or that of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-buffett-charities/warren-buffett-donates-2-9-billion-to-gates-foundation-family-charities-idUSKBN2492AA">another billionaire</a>. And when she made her public announcement, the gifts were already made.</p>
<h2>4. Don’t obsess about scale</h2>
<p>Many of the organizations receiving these gifts are relatively small in scale and lack widespread name recognition. The multiracial justice group <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/943311784">Forward Together</a> and the Campaign for Female Education, a global aid group often called <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/542033897">CAMFED</a>, for example, until recently operated on annual budgets of $5.5 million or less, while the <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/472802851">Millennial Action Project</a> had an even smaller budget.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>5. Leverage more than money</h2>
<p>Philanthropy that’s intended to bring about social change inherently expresses the donor’s values, Scott acknowledged in her announcement. She also recognized her immense privilege, highlighting the need to address societal structures that sustain inequality. And <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/womens-philanthropy-institute/research/all-in.html">like the many women donors I’ve interviewed and studied</a>, she is using her position as the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-28/mackenzie-bezos-donates-1-7-billion-to-charity-within-months?sref=Hjm5biAW">world’s second-wealthiest woman</a> to amplify the voices of the leaders and groups she supported. Her goal is to encourage others to give, join or volunteer to support those same causes.</p>
<p>As Scott noted, the issues her philanthropy addresses are complex and will require sustained and broad-based efforts to solve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143659/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth J. Dale has received funding from the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation via Indiana University and The Giving USA Foundation for her research on philanthropy. The views expressed in this essay are strictly my own and do not reflect policy stances of Seattle University.</span></em></p>By not attaching any strings to the money, championing representation and generally taking care to respect nonprofit leaders, she’s following five best practices.Elizabeth J. Dale, Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Leadership, Seattle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1224412019-09-17T12:50:49Z2019-09-17T12:50:49ZJeff and MacKenzie Bezos’s billions for the homeless will relieve suffering but won’t defeat homelessness<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291634/original/file-20190909-109927-x2bz6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many homeless Americans are babies and small children.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Portland-Homeless-Count/9e61f4939d774d02bd4f7fd3f9daec30/3/0">AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and <a href="https://theconversation.com/mackenzie-bezoss-17-billion-pledge-tops-a-growing-list-of-women-giving-big-117964">MacKenzie Bezos</a>, his ex-wife, are giving away US$2 billion. The money will fund existing nonprofits to support homeless families and establish a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-richest-person-modern-history-spends-on-charity-2018-7">new network of free preschools</a> for <a href="https://www.bezosdayonefund.org/day1academiesfund">low-income children</a>. </p>
<p>I’ve <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZfkdwqwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">researched the best ways to end homelessness</a> for three decades and I was initially thrilled by both parts of their plan when they announced it in 2018 because the two issues aren’t as different as they may seem. Half of the children in families that become homeless are <a href="https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/5769/2017-ahar-part-2-estimates-of-homelessness-in-the-us">5 or younger</a>. In fact, the age at which a person is most likely to stay in a homeless shelter in the United States is infancy. </p>
<p>I believe offering families who face economic hardship high-quality child care at no cost could both prevent some family homelessness and benefit children in families who do lose their homes. But I am troubled by the homeless side of these philanthropic efforts because they appear less strategic. </p>
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<h2>Homeless infants and children</h2>
<p>Why are so many very young children in homeless shelters?</p>
<p>Babies may be a blessing, but they require <a href="https://www.care.com/c/stories/2423/how-much-does-child-care-cost/">care that is typically costly</a> or that takes a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/08/facts-about-u-s-mothers/">parent out of the labor force</a>. Since either choice makes it hard for young families to afford housing, too often they fall into homelessness. Likewise, rates of homelessness drop when <a href="https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/5769/2017-ahar-part-2-estimates-of-homelessness-in-the-us">children enter elementary school</a>.</p>
<p>The Bezoses haven’t yet offered details about the preschool programs they are planning to support. But they did release a list of <a href="https://www.bezosdayonefund.org/day1familiesfund">24 nonprofits</a> they gave either $2.5 million or $5 million to help homeless families.</p>
<h2>Addressing root causes</h2>
<p>Most of these programs appear likely <a href="https://www.richmond.com/news/local/henrico/amazon-ceo-s-new-philanthropy-wing-taps-henrico-nonprofit-for/article_389e7d96-35e5-513d-986e-48659617da0d.html">to use this money</a> to expand their shelters and services, and perhaps offer their clients short-term rental subsidies or a combination of <a href="https://shnny.org/supportive-housing/what-is-supportive-housing/">affordable housing with services</a> designed for people struggling with mental illnesses or other disabilities that most families experiencing homelessness don’t have. These are the same services that have been available for years – while progress in ending homelessness has stalled.</p>
<p><a href="https://files.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2017-AHAR-Part-2-Section-3.pdf">Nearly half a million people in families</a> used homeless shelters in 2017 – about the same number as in 2013 and 2007. About a third of all people who use shelters belong to families with children under 17.</p>
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<h2>Family Options Study</h2>
<p>Most of the programs will surely make a spell of homelessness a little less miserable, but it appears that few of these organizations will offer the long-term rental subsidies my colleagues and I found to be the most effective way to end family homelessness when we conducted the <a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/family_options_study.html">Family Options Study</a>.</p>
<p>I co-led a team that brought together experts from the Abt Associates consulting firm and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZfkdwqwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholars like me at Vanderbilt University</a> to evaluate different ways to help homeless families. Our study, funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, enrolled nearly 2,300 families we found in homeless shelters in 12 sites throughout the United States.</p>
<p>We randomly assigned the families to four options, provided by 148 different programs. Some groups the Bezoses are funding were among them. </p>
<p>Some of the families in this study got simply the sorts of care these programs usually provide. But three years after enrolling, many of those families were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22071">not faring well</a>. </p>
<p>For example, two-fifths of them had used homeless shelters recently or reported being homeless or living doubled-up in a home with another family because they could not find or afford a place of their own.</p>
<p>One in 6 families had been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22071">separated from a child</a> who had entered a shelter with them.</p>
<p>One in 10 adults reported recent intimate partner violence and one in 10 indicated that they were coping with alcohol dependence or drug abuse. Almost half of families were <a href="https://hungerandhealth.feedingamerica.org/understand-food-insecurity/">food-insecure</a>, meaning that they had inadequate or inconsistent access to food.</p>
<p>The people reporting these troubling outcomes found their way into a variety of housing and service programs that cost about $41,000 per family over a 37-month period. </p>
<p>Others were randomly assigned to get short-term rental subsidies lasting an average of six to eight months, or to longer-term transitional housing programs that offered extensive social services. We determined that they fared little better than the first group.</p>
<h2>A better way</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22071">One program worked much better</a> than the rest: a long-term rental subsidy that held families’ housing costs to 30% of their income. </p>
<p>Even though the families that got these subsidies did not get special services beyond housing, they were less likely to experience homelessness again or have to double up. They were also less likely to face food insecurity. </p>
<p>Children in families randomly assigned to get the subsidies were more likely to remain with their parents and less likely to switch schools, to miss school or to have behavior problems. Their parents reported less domestic violence, psychological distress and alcohol or drug abuse.</p>
<p>That is, housing subsidies reduced problems that can sometimes cause family homelessness – even without special services like case management or counseling. The one downside we detected was that the adults, mostly parents with young children, were a little less likely to be employed.</p>
<p>The housing and service programs the four groups used cost similar amounts. The group that got long-term subsidies cost about 9% more than the group that got services as usual. Transitional housing also cost slightly more. The short-term subsidies cost about 9% less. </p>
<h2>Moving the needle</h2>
<p>In an <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/8/12/20758787/jeff-bezos-day-one-fund-philanthropy-charity-homelessness">unusual move</a>, nonprofits getting the Bezos grants aren’t being asked to do or prove anything specific. Groups receiving support from nonprofits typically must formally apply – even for much-smaller sums of money – and later submit reports to show they did the work. </p>
<p>No-strings-attached philanthropy spares those groups lots of time they might otherwise have spent writing detailed grant proposals and reports on their work once the money is spent. But it’s a lost opportunity. </p>
<p>Because the homelessness program, technically called the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, doesn’t require evaluations, I doubt that there will be a way to discover if this money could have been put to better use. </p>
<p>Jeff Bezos has said he’s trying to make “<a href="https://www.bezosdayonefund.org/">compassionate, needle-moving work</a>” happen. If he really does want to move the needle, I can make several recommendations.</p>
<p>For starters, he could invest in more of the long-term rental subsidies our study found effective for ending family homelessness.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.curbed.com/2019/5/15/18617763/affordable-housing-policy-rent-real-estate-apartment">need for affordable housing</a> is vast. Providing enough long-term subsidies would cost <a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/library/housing-the-families-who-need-it-most-is-within-our-reach/%5D">$31 billion more than current levels</a> per year – less than 1% of <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/historical-tables/">U.S. federal government expenditures</a>, but surely more than even Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos can afford. </p>
<p>Therefore, I think that they should consider creating a <a href="https://theconversation.com/hillary-clinton-is-starting-a-social-welfare-group-what-does-that-mean-78221">social welfare organization</a> to promote public education and spending on housing subsidies and other policies that would make housing more affordable across the nation. <a href="https://www.abtassociates.com/who-we-are/our-people/select-experts/jill-khadduri-phd">Jill Khadduri</a>, a housing expert at the Abt consulting and research firm, and I evaluate dozens of these ideas – like zoning reform and improvements to the safety net – in our forthcoming book “<a href="https://www.spssi.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&pageId=535">In the Midst of Plenty: How to Prevent and End Homelessness</a>.”</p>
<p>Especially since Jeff Bezos lobbied <a href="https://citylimits.org/2018/12/03/what-happened-when-seattle-tried-to-tax-amazon/">against a Seattle tax</a> that would have raised money for the government to spend on affordable housing, he should back strategies to prevent and end homelessness, not just make it easier to bear.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marybeth Shinn has received funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other sources for her research.
She serves on the Research Council for the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the Board of Directors of New York City's Partnership for the Homeless, and the Nashville Homelessness Planning Council. The Family Options study was conducted collaboratively with Abt Associates.</span></em></p>Their initial grants do not insist upon filing reports that might indicate what works best. And without more affordable housing, the problem is sure to continue.Marybeth Shinn, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Human and Organizational Development, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1179642019-05-31T11:10:59Z2019-05-31T11:10:59ZMacKenzie Bezos’s $17 billion pledge tops a growing list of women giving big<p>Shortly after her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos became final, MacKenzie Bezos promised to give at least half of her assets away. </p>
<p>By divorcing the world’s richest person, the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/186185.MacKenzie_Bezos">novelist</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mackenzie-bezos-how-the-wife-of-amazons-boss-became-its-most-loyal-ambassador-a8725576.html">former accountant</a> became the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-47824937">third-richest woman</a> in the world and the wealthiest woman to sign onto <a href="https://givingpledge.org/PressRelease.aspx?date=05.28.2019">the Giving Pledge</a>, a commitment to give away the bulk of big fortunes.</p>
<p>“I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” she declared. “I will keep at it until the safe is empty.”</p>
<p>MacKenzie Bezos’s commitment to give away at least half of her wealth, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-mackenzie-bezos/mackenzie-bezos-pledges-half-her-fortune-to-charity-after-amazon-divorce-idUSKCN1SY1E9">about US$17 billion</a> in today’s dollars, marks her as more generous than her ex-husband. </p>
<p>Jeff Bezos has not yet signed the pledge. And he never signaled much interest in giving away billions until the couple jointly made public their plans to donate <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-big-problem-with-how-jeff-and-mackenzie-bezos-are-spending-a-small-share-of-their-fortune-103311">$2 billion</a> to help the homeless and fund a network of preschools in 2018. </p>
<p>MacKenzie Bezos is the most visible emblem to date of an important philanthropic trend. As a scholar of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=tu70lmIAAAAJ">giving by and for women</a>, I’ve studied how high-net-worth female donors are taking the reins of their family’s giving and, in many cases, <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/womens-philanthropy-institute/research/giving-by-for-women.html">charting their own course</a> through philanthropy. Until recently, most have kept their profiles relatively low.</p>
<h2>Giving while female</h2>
<p>Some of today’s biggest female givers still tend to be overshadowed by their corporate-leader husbands. Although the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has always promoted its work as the couple’s joint effort, it wasn’t until <a href="http://time.com/5592326/melinda-gates-interview-2019/">Melinda Gates</a> published <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250313560">her 2019 book</a> about her leadership role that her personal efforts to empower and educate women and girls worldwide gained prominence.</p>
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<p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/15/success/priscilla-chan-boss-files-interview/index.html">Priscilla Chan</a>, the physician married to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, is the one running the couple’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. They founded their <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alexkantrowitz/not-all-of-mark-zuckerbergs-donation-to-go-to-charity">limited liability corporation</a> in 2015 with Facebook stock then worth $45 billion. Unlike with a foundation, an LLC allows them to make charitable gifts as well as investments, as well as to lobby and donate to politicians.</p>
<p>Entrepreneur and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple’s Steve Jobs, also funds a variety of nonprofit causes and invests in for-profit ventures through her own similarly structured entity, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-25/billionaire-laurene-powell-jobs-turned-her-llc-into-a-vc-machine">Emerson Collective</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncronline.org/books/2017/08/thanks-joan-kroc-hamburger-billions-went-charity">Joan Kroc</a>, wife of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, took hold of the couple’s philanthropy shortly after they married in 1969. She served as vice chair of the family foundation for 25 years, but that dwarfed the personal wealth she inherited when Ray died in 1984, ultimately giving more than $3 billion away through her estate.</p>
<p>But some of these big donors are self-made women, including the entertainment mogul and actress <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oprah-winfrey-spending-real-estate-vacations-philanthropy-2018-9#and-in-2007-winfrey-opened-the-oprah-winfrey-leadership-academy-for-girls-in-south-africa-in-2017-she-said-shed-spent-about-140-million-over-the-past-10-years-to-maintain-the-school-25">Oprah Winfrey</a>.
<a href="http://www.spanxfoundation.com/about/">Sara Blakely</a>, founder of the Spanx underwear and lingerie company, has also signed the Giving Pledge.</p>
<p>This is hardly a new phenomenon. A century ago, women who became rich through marriage or inheritance were – along with women who earned wealth on their own – also giving back in a big way.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/people/hall-of-fame/detail/margaret-olivia-sage">Margaret Olivia Sage</a>, for example, founded the Russell Sage Foundation in 1907 after inheriting $75 million – about $2 billion in today’s dollars – from her notoriously stingy husband and focused on advancing social science and education.</p>
<p>Some of the biggest female givers have also been women of color, affirming <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/womens-philanthropy-institute/research/women-give19.html">recent research</a> that women of equal means generally give more than their male counterparts regardless of race and ethnicity.</p>
<p><a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1805/6176">Madame C.J. Walker</a>, often considered the nation’s first self-made female millionaire and among the first <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/02/26/madam-c-j-walker-wasnt-the-first-african-american-millionaire/">black American entrepreneurs</a> to amass great wealth, made significant gifts to the NAACP, churches and colleges after making a fortune by inventing hair care products for the underserved African American market.</p>
<h2>Gender differences persist</h2>
<p>Men, to be sure, still outnumber women as solo philanthropists. Based on my own tabulations, just 6% of the Giving Pledge signatories are women pledging on their own, versus 37% for men pledging by themselves and 57% couples pledging together.</p>
<p>At the same time, women are involved in about 90% of household <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1805/6984">charitable decisions</a>, according to the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The institute’s scholars have repeatedly found that single women generally donate more money on average than single men, relative to their wealth and income, and are more likely to give to nearly every type of charitable cause.</p>
<p>Research has also shown other <a href="https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/handle/1805/6983">gender differences in giving</a>. Women are more likely than men to give for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.432">more altruistic reasons</a> versus self-interested ones. And they are less interested in having buildings or programs named after them in exchange for giant gifts. In my own research, wealthy women have shared how they are being <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/womens-philanthropy-institute/research/giving-by-for-women.html">strategic</a> in their giving through unrestricted and multi-year grants, and increasingly, women are claiming the titles of philanthropist, investor or even donor activist as they use their recognition to encourage others to join them.</p>
<h2>Making her mark</h2>
<p>MacKenzie Bezos has not yet made public which causes she will fund or indicated when she might do that. “My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful,” she said in her <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=393">Giving Pledge</a> statement. “It will take time and effort and care.”</p>
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<p>In addition to supporting low-income preschool-age children and the homeless in conjunction with her ex-husband, so far she has made fighting bullying a priority as the founder of <a href="http://www.bystanderrevolution.org/">Bystander Revolution</a> – a group that produces creative videos.</p>
<p>If she’s like <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/womens-philanthropy-institute/research/giving-by-for-women.html">other female donors</a> I’ve researched, Bezos might first study up on the causes she cares about or network with other donors to learn about how to give effectively before making her first solo big gift. Regardless of the cause or the amount, she will be seen as a leader of women’s giving worldwide from now on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117964/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth J. Dale currently receives research funding for her work on women’s philanthropy from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation via the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI. She also receives funding from The Giving USA Foundation for a forthcoming study on planned giving.</span></em></p>Some, like Melinda Gates and Priscilla Chan, became affluent through marriage. Others, like Oprah Winfrey, earned fortunes on their own.Elizabeth J. Dale, Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Leadership, Seattle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.