Skip to content
Apply
Stories

This giving Tuesday, think like a billionaire and follow MacKenzie Scott’s lead with donations

People in this story

(Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)

Today is GivingTuesday, an annual celebration for nonprofit organizations around the world. Last year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, GivingTuesday elicited a record $2.47 billion in charitable donations from 34.8 million people. The most generous trendsetter in the opaque field of philanthropy is MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Scott recently gave away $8.6 billion—thought to be the most donated by one person in a 12-month span. Half of Scott’s donations went to small local charities, and in many cases she broke with tradition by not dictating to the organizations how her money should be spent.

“What impresses me the most is her ensuring that the people who are running the nonprofits are people who have had the experience that they’re addressing,” says Patricia Illingworth, a Northeastern professor of philosophy and business whose areas of expertise include philanthropy and ethics. “That means there are going to be Black leaders on nonprofits that are focusing on issues that concern Black people, and similarly for LGBTQ. That’s a big step because bias in philanthropy has been a big problem.”

Illingworth, whose latest book on philanthropy, “Giving Now: Accelerating Human Rights for All,” will be published in 2022, spoke with News@Northeastern about Scott’s methods and philanthropy in an era of social upheaval. Her comments have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Continue reading at News@Northeastern.

More Stories

Ingredients for local Khmer dishes in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Dialogue of Civilizations Spotlight: Food and Culture in Vietnam and Cambodia

11.16.2023
Maria Ivanova, Northeastern's new director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022.

Maria Ivanova receives Global Green Mentor award at Climate Week NYC — but she’s just getting started

Denise Garcia’s, book, The AI Military Race, on Nov. 30, 2023.

Military AI: New book anticipates a world of “killer robots”—and the need to regulate them

12.04.23
Faculty Stories