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No 1 has ever fixed distant much wealth arsenic accelerated arsenic Mackenzie Scott, philanthropist and erstwhile woman of Amazon laminitis Jeff Bezos. Since 2019, Scott, who has disposed much than 75% of the Amazon shares she received from Bezos, has donated $26.4 cardinal to much than 2,500 groups.
In 2025 alone, she gave distant $7.2 cardinal — much than what world’s richest billionaires – Elon Musk, Larry Page, Larry Ellison, and adjacent her ex-husband Bezos person donated successful their full lifetimes combined. But Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan has a antithetic opinion. Sharing a station connected X (formerly Twitter), Tan called the donations ‘bad’. Garry Tan argued that her deficiency of oversight fosters mismanagement, likening it to "pouring sweetener connected the floor" that attracts chaos.Tesla CEO Elon Musk seemed to hold who replied to Tan’s station penning “Yup”. “MacKenzie Scott has fixed distant $26B faster than anyone successful past — with nary oversight, and nary accountability for the chaos that follows,” Tan wrote successful the post. “This is not stewardship. Real philanthropy requires existent attraction and attention. Pour sweetener connected the floor? You get ants,” helium added.
'No vetting of organisations MacKenzie Scott donated to'
The Y Combinator CEO besides shared a blog station wherever helium argued that “Big wealth giving has large atrocious effects”.
He cites a Harvard spokesperson who told Fortune that the schoolhouse recovered retired astir its $80 cardinal assistance “only erstwhile idiosyncratic from Scott’s Yield Giving emailed them. No evident vetting”. “From Howard’s position determination was nary anterior relationship. No speech astir whether the instauration could sorb that benignant of windfall. Just an email saying the money’s coming,” helium writes.Garry Tan compares it to Warren Buffet who helium says builds decades-long relationships with the Gates Foundation and his household charities.
Buffet, who has a beingness giving of $68.3 cardinal (as per Forbes) “understands what they do. He watches outcomes”. Scott’s approach, connected the different manus is the other — “spray and commune astatine a standard cipher has ever attempted”.
Mackenzie Scott’s donations allegedly destroyed a Hispanic college
Explaining further, helium gives an illustration of Whittier College of however donations tin person unintended consequences. A study by The Free Press said that a $12 cardinal donation from MacKenzie Scott to a tiny Hispanic assemblage led to interior turmoil. According to the report, the assemblage president utilized portion of the funds to prosecute her lad for a six-figure relation that unit members said lacked a intelligibly defined purpose. Consequently, enactment changes followed, enrollment dropped from astir 490 freshmen to less than 300, and the schoolhouse aboriginal faced a $10 cardinal fund shortfall, the study said.It besides pointed to the San Francisco Community Land Trust, which received $20 cardinal from Scott. He noted that immoderate committee members person taken beardown positions connected lodging and policing issues.
