>
Jeff Bezos and girlfriend Lauren Sanchez were spotted in Italy this week as the Amazon CEO took home an award at the Vatican for his philanthropic work — while ex-wife Mackenzie Scott donated a staggering $84.5 million to Girl Scouts USA.
Bezos received the Galileo Prophets of Philanthropy Award for his work in donating to charities, and Sanchez said she was “so proud” of him in an Instagram post.
Meanwhile, Scott, the 25-year-old ex-wife of Bezos, continued her philanthropic fight by donating more than $84.5 million to Girl Scout USA this week — the largest donation they’ve ever received.
Although Bezos gives to a wide range of organizations, including a recent venture into the conservation of the Congo Basin in Africa, he has donated just $2.4 billion in his lifetime — one-fifth of what his ex-wife gave away, despite being hair more than quadrupled. net value.
Since 2020, Scott has donated a whopping $12.8 billion to more than 1,200 organizations, which is a faster rate of philanthropy than anyone in modern history.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and girlfriend Lauren Sanchez strolled through Rome this week before Bezos received a philanthropic award from the Vatican
Bezos reportedly had an affair with Sanchez while he was with ex-wife Mackenzie Scott, and the two went public with their relationship after going through their respective divorces.
Bezos and Scott met when they both worked for DE Shaw in 1992, and have four children together
The two divorced in 2019 and Bezos, one of the world’s richest people, took away a 4% stake in Amazon — meaning Scott received about $36 billion.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Bezos said he “cannot think of a better place to face the challenges we face today than here.”
He spoke mainly about the problems facing the planet, saying that “the journey we are on to solve them requires the best science and leadership.”
He listed many technical advancements humans have made in modern history, including “leaps and limits” made in technology.
“Computer efficiency has improved by a factor of many millions,” he stated. “The cost of solar energy has fallen 99 percent since 1979.”
He tried to bridge the gap between religion and science: ‘The Earth is a paradise, and we must protect it. His Holiness Pope Francis has emphasized this same theme in his encyclical when he refers to the earth as ‘our common home’ and describes the need to care for it.’
He spoke of finding “the most lasting solution” that would “solve the problem not just now, but forever after.”
But Scott seems willing to part with her luck to solve the problems much more than Bezos is.
Bezos and Scott met while they were both working for DE Shaw in 1992. They married a year later and welcomed four children together – before breaking up in 2019 after he was reported to be having an affair with Sanchez.
She made a $275 million donation to Planned Parenthood earlier this year, and the $84.5 million she will give to Girl Scout USA will help the struggling organization.
The funds will help the organization recover from the impact of the pandemic, which has reduced membership.
“Her support for our organization honestly means as much as the donation,” said Sofia Chang, CEO of Girl Scouts USA, in an interview.
The Girl Scouts’ youth membership dropped dramatically during the pandemic, by nearly 30% – and the donation will help the organization get back to previous membership rates
Sofia Chang, CEO of Girl Scouts USA, said: ‘Her support for our organization honestly means as much as the donation’
Her generous donation comes after she filed for divorce from science teacher Dan Jewett a month ago, less than two years after the marriage and philanthropic partnership began.
Scott and Jewett, 47, were rarely seen together and he quietly resigned from his teaching job at a private high school in Washington last year, saying he didn’t want to create a distraction there.
The split was revealed when Jewett’s name was removed from Scott’s page on the website for the Giving Pledge, an initiative that asks billionaires to give away at least half of their wealth during their lifetime.
The former couple had written together on the site last year about their intention to give away Scott’s fortune, which largely stems from her divorce from Bezos.
The Southern Arizona Girl Scout council decided to use the $1.4 million it received from Scott to improve the work they’re already doing rather than start a new program or initiative, CEO Kristen Garcia-Hernandez said.
Scott, seen here with Jewett, recently split from the physics teacher after they promised to donate much of her fortune together
According to research, philanthropic donations to organizations that specifically serve women and girls represent less than 2% of all donations
‘We are a small municipality and certainly not in a metropolitan junction. So for us, gifts of this magnitude are rare,” Garcia-Hernandez said.
The gift accelerates their plan to hire more staff to reach most places in the seven counties they serve in less than an hour and provide year-round programming.
The municipality will also set up a van as a mobile science and technology classroom, a project they have been trying to finance for a year and a half.
Many local financiers seem to think the Girl Scout’s cookie sales are covering their costs, she said.
“While the cookie program definitely supports us and it’s great and the girls are part of that process, which makes it even more beautiful, we definitely need more from the community,” Garcia-Hernandez said.
According to research, philanthropic donations to organizations that specifically serve women and girls represent less than 2% of all donations.
It found that the proportion did not change significantly between 2012 and 2019, the years the study followed.
Tessa Skidmore, a research associate at the institute, said large donations from women like philanthropists Melinda French Gates, Sheryl Sandberg and Scott could inspire other donors.
“Those are the kinds of things that have the potential to change that number,” she said.
The institute partnered with Pivotal Ventures, the investment company founded by French Gates and others to promote giving to women and girls on International Girl’s Day, celebrated on October 11 each year.
It also shares its donation data in hopes that donors or researchers will use it as a way to evaluate gender equality in donations.
Scott doesn’t often communicate about her donations, which have totaled about $12 billion since 2019.
While many people often think cookie sales are funding the Girl Scouts, local troop leaders have said the organization needs more outside investment to survive.
She has donated large, unrestricted grants to many different types of organizations, although her donations have had a special focus on racial equality.
Scott also donated a $275 million blockbuster to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its subsidiaries this year.
The Girl Scouts’ youth membership declined dramatically during the pandemic, dropping nearly 30% from about 1.4 million in 2019-2020 to just over 1 million in 2021-2022.
Chang acknowledged the decline, but claimed the organization’s programs consistently help girls build trust and address problems in their communities.
“Our traditional way of supporting girls was really turned upside down during the pandemic because troops couldn’t really meet in person,” Chang said.
“So to build back stronger than ever before, we’re really listening to our Girl Scouts, listening to their families and our volunteers to really make sure that what comes next for us has a real impact right now.”
The Girl Scouts plan to support volunteers and staff, make camp sites more resilient to the effects of climate change, improve science and technology education for youth members, and develop diversity and inclusion programs to make their troops more accessible.”