PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette (GICW) has a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.
Author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the ex wife of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, pledged last year to donate half of her fortune – and this year, $15 million of it is going to our local Goodwill.
GICW does not fundraise. The donation is the largest single, cash donation in its 93-year history.
In 2019, Scott signed The Giving Pledge, a campaign to get the ultra-wealthy to pledge at least half their fortune to charitable causes. It was created in 2010 by billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates.
Her divorce from Bezos left her with a 4% stake currently worth more than $36 billion in the online shopping giant.
“I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” she said in her Giving Pledge letter.
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