Ex-wife of Jeff Bezos gifts $20 million to Minnesota Planned Parenthood

Nationally, Scott donated $275 million to Planned Parenthood affiliates throughout the country.

A Planned Parenthood location in St. Paul. (Fibonacci Blue/Flickr)

The ex-wife of Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos has donated more than $48 million to six Minnesota nonprofits, $20 million of which she sent to Planned Parenthood.

MacKenzie Scott, a philanthropist whose net worth is estimated to be between $49 and $60 billion, scattered her $48 million of donations across the following organizations: The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities, the Red Lake Nation Boys & Girls Club, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the White Earth Nation, Planned Parenthood North Central States, United States of Care, and Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.

The $20 million gift to Planned Parenthood North Central States — which operates facilities throughout Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and the Dakotas — is the largest donation in its history, the abortion giant said in a press release this week.

Nationally, Scott donated $275 million to Planned Parenthood affiliates throughout the country.

“This represents the largest gift from a single donor in Planned Parenthood’s history,” the national office said.

Sarah Stoesz, CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, told the Star Tribune that Scott’s $20 million donation is the “most extraordinary act of kindness for humanity” and will be used to supercharge the day-to-day operations at their 28 facilities.

“MacKenzie Scott’s generosity is particularly important as we are facing the possibility of the Supreme Court wiping out safe and legal abortion in large parts of our country,” Stoesz said in a press release.

“We at Planned Parenthood are preparing to transition our health care delivery model in response to whatever the court decides because we know people will be relying on us more than ever for abortions, as well as for the many other health care services we provide,” she added.

Scott’s $48 million donations to Minnesota nonprofits is part of a larger effort to give away her wealth nationwide. Since last June she has donated almost $3.9 billion to 465 nonprofits across the country, according to an article she published on Wednesday.

“Our team’s focus over these last nine months has included some new areas, but as always our aim has been to support the needs of underrepresented people from groups of all kinds,” she wrote. “The cause of equity has no sides. Nor can it have a single solution. Equity can only be realized when all people involved have an opportunity to help shape it.”

 

Evan Stambaugh

Evan Stambaugh is a freelance writer who had previously been a sports blogger. He has a BA in theology and an MA in philosophy.