MacKenzie Scott, a philanthropist and the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, has given $436 million to the nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity.
Jonathan Reckford, the Chief Executive Officer of Habitat for Humanity International, referred to it as a “transformational donation” in his statement.
“Thanks to this astoundingly generous donation, we will be able to significantly increase our capacity and put into action programs that will have an impact that spans generations on communities all across the United States as well as on our overall mission internationally for a good number of years to come.”
After getting divorced from Jeff Bezos and being left with 4% of Amazon’s shares, Ms. Scott has donated a total of $8 billion to hundreds of different charitable organizations over the previous two years.
She is one of the numerous billionaires who have committed to donating more than half of their wealth after signing the Giving Pledge, which she has done.
The majority of the donation will be distributed to 84 Habitat affiliates located in the United States.
The international Habitat organization will use its portion of the donation, which is valued at $25 million, to fundamentally increase the supply of affordable housing and advocate for policy proposals and legislation that enable access to affordable housing through its Cost of Home campaign.
Additionally, funding will be utilized to expand research and measurement initiatives in order to discover best practices in areas such as sustaining home affordability and housing innovation, as well as to investigate how new and current programs contribute to better results for individuals and families.
In addition, the tithe program of the organization is able to get support from the unrestricted gifts, which helps the nonprofit continue its work around the world.
The Tithe International Disasters Fund has already donated $200,000 to fund Habitat’s initial response to refugees leaving Ukraine.
Last year, U.S. Habitat organizations tithed approximately US$14 million to support the organization’s work across the world.
Since its inception in 1976, the Christian housing organization, for which former President of the United States Jimmy Carter has contributed countless days of manual labor with his hammer, has grown to encompass all fifty states in the United States as well as more than seventy different nations.
Families and individuals who are in need of a helping hand partner with Habitat to build or renovate their own homes alongside volunteers.
Habitat requires that these families and individuals pay an affordable mortgage, which contributes to the organization’s ability to build additional housing for others.