Wednesday, August 5, 2020

We Must All Be A MacKenzie.

We read a fantastic article in Vox about MacKenzie Scott and her 'revolutionary' philanthropic efforts. In short, the feature stated that Jeff Bezos's ex. wife hit the ground running once she cash settled in her divorce from the planet's wealthiest man and is ploughing through donating her bank balance to charities, whether they've asked her or not. 

Within just over a year after splitting from her ex., and the world's biggest divorce settlement, MacKenzie stated she's on a self, speed mission to see how quickly she can offload her enormous fortune, to help others. Usually, someone with a few million or billions under their belt, would hire a corporation to determine the best use of donating funds. MacKenzie decided that she'd not follow that route and by cutting straight to the chase, by eliminating the middle man or woman, within 12 months and advice from a few key players, she's offloaded over $1.7b to 116 nonprofit organizations that focus on varying issues.

Like manna falling from the sky during the Torah days, nonprofits started to receive donations - reiterating some nonprofits had zero interaction with MacKenzie and others never even submitted a grant request. She obviously decided that she'd dig around and self research into a: who really needed greens, and b: morphed with her philanthropic goals. And the donations then steamrolled towards these very surprised nonprofits. There were no strings attached on where MacKenzie wanted her donation to be injected into. Her stance was that she believed in what they were achieving and therefore had great faith they'd put the money to whatever good use they felt needed it. No micromanaging, no conditional grant giving and no question towards the nonprofit. It's been a case of 'I have buckets of cash, you need it, I trust you, spend it wisely and God speed.'

MacKenzie's fast and furious approach is refreshing, logical and screams common sense. Covid-19 has destroyed so many individuals and nonprofits livelihoods and grants have been taking too long to arrive at their destination. Accounting MacKenzie started her steamrolling rainy-day expedition six months before Covid-19 was a thing, it speaks volumes about her need to do good on the planet, regardless of whatever stage Earth is at, at any given moment. Hiring a vetting company to decide where the donor should spend their cash already makes a dent in the donation, since these vetting companies charge a small fortune for their expertise. Additionally, the interest MacKenzie is making on her stored banked cash will forever keep blowing through the roof i.e. for every $1.7b she donates, her interest just recovered the same amount within days and oddly, it may turn into a frustrating circle whereby the speed of offloading is rewarded with interest gains taking the phrase 'donor matching' to a very strange, new level. That pot of gold may never empty and she may never be short of cash but by gum, she's giving it all she has and we applaud her. With the most concentrated number of billionaires on the planet located in the Bay Area, these 75 rich list people have been so silent in helping others, we can actually hear crickets. MacKenzie is a breath of fresh air in contrast.

What we need are more MacKenzie's out there who trust, have faith, belief and want to help nonprofits. So they're going directly to the source and catapulting cash their way, instantly. No questions asked, no fanfare of a publicity circus in advance of donating to empower their egos, and complete disregard towards the norm of retaining grant experts who's salaries chomp away at the fund that's intended for recipients.

We must all be a MacKenzie. We don't need billions to achieve what she's doing. We just need to follow her rule of thumb: If you have something that will help the needy, give it to them. Whether it's $1, a pair of sneakers, socks, a sleeping bag or half a sandwich. And give it to them today. Don't dwell, don't overthink it. Just donate. Be a MacKenzie...

MacKenzie Scott Donates $1.7 Billion | HERS Magazine





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