United Way of the Midlands receives $10M donation

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The United Way of the Midlands has received its largest gift from an individual donor in the organization’s history, a $10 million gift from author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, formerly married to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Founded in 1925 as Community Chest, the organization was one of 384 nonprofits to receive nearly $4.2 billion in gifts from Scott.

“I am extremely grateful that Ms. Scott has invested such a generous gift in United Way of the Midlands,” Sara Fawcett, United Way of the Midlands president and CEO, said in a news release. “This is a long-term investment in the Midlands and gives us the ability to greatly expand collaboration and collective impact across the region.”

United Way of the Midlands served more than 63,000 Midlands residents last year, including 15,000 individuals through its COVID-19 Response Fund. Its community partners included WellPartners Dental and Eye Clinics, Resilient Richland and the Midlands Reading Consortium. 

Scott also donated an undisclosed amount to Greenville nonprofit CommunityWorks.

In a statement on online publishing platform Medium, Scott said she and her advisers chose the nonprofit recipients after receiving input from hundreds of leaders and volunteers and analyzing thousands of pages of data analysis examining community needs and program outcomes.

“These 384 carefully selected teams have dedicated their lives to helping others, working and volunteering and serving real people face-to-face at bedsides and tables, in prisons and courtrooms and classrooms, on streets and hospital wards and hotlines and frontlines of all types and sizes, day after day after day,” Scott’s post read. “They help by delivering vital services, and also through the profound encouragement felt each time a person is seen, valued, and trusted by another human being.”

United Way of the Midlands will announce plans for investing the donation at a later date, according to the release.  

“We believe this gift is a validation of the work United Way has been doing for years to promote equity and opportunity and that this organization has proven to be an effective steward of the resources entrusted by the community,” Robert Foster, United Way of the Midlands board chair, said. “The board of directors, staff and volunteers at United Way are already hard at work to determine the best way to deploy these resources swiftly and effectively.” 

Scott is the third-richest woman in the world, according to Forbes, which estimated her net worth at $55.1 billion after her most recent donations. Scott was part of Amazon’s founding and served as the company’s first accountant.

According to NPR, Scott received a 4% stake in Amazon, then valued at $37 billion, after her divorce from Bezos last year.