A Better Class of Billionaires

I’m a fan of the philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott and what she’s teaching others through her example; particularly what she’s teaching other billionaires about how to be better billionaires.

Granted, I don’t know MacKenzie personally, and I’m a fan based on what I’ve learned over the years from the media and other public information. Also granted, one’s public persona can be well crafted, if not outright misleading, in an effort to portray that person in the best light. Nevertheless, it’s ultimately impossible to hide the fruits of one's works (or fruits of one's Spirit).

I suspect that if I knew MacKenzie personally, I’d find her public persona and the fruits of her work congruent with the real person and fruits of her Spirit, and I’d be all the more a fan. I suspect all of us would.

An Introduction

MacKenzie may not need any introduction, but I’ll provide a brief one from three mainstream sources with good reputations for fact checking: Britannica, Forbes, and CBS.

Image Credit: Elena Seibert

Britannica reports,

MacKenzie Scott (born April 7, 1970, San Francisco, California, U.S.) is an American billionaire, philanthropist, and novelist. According to Forbes magazine, in July 2024 she had a net worth of $37 billion, making her the 43rd richest person in the world and the fourth richest woman in the United States. In 1994 she founded Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer, with her then husband, Jeff Bezos. . . .  Scott made Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in 2020 and was named the “world’s most powerful woman” by Forbes in 2021. 

As CBS and Forbes report, in recent years MacKenzie has devoted most of her efforts to philanthropy. As of this writing, she has reportedly given away more than $19 billion to over 2,450 nonprofit organizations through her Yield Giving Foundation. Interestingly, her style of large, unrestricted gifts has transformed the impact and effectiveness of those nonprofits. Also interestingly, she is wealthier now after giving that much away than when she started. Go figure! God at work? You have to wonder.

As CBS notes, MacKenzie’s motivation for issuing unrestricted gifts is rooted in her belief that those closest to the work are best positioned to administer the funds. “I needn’t ask those I care about what to say to them, or what to do for them. I can share what I have with them to stand behind them as they speak and act for themselves,” she’s quoted as saying.

I find this belief by one of the world’s most powerful women both fascinating and refreshing. It should make us all curious to learn more from MacKenzie’s example. My intent and hope with this post is that by sharing about MacKenzie’s perspective, others–those who count their wealth in blocks of billions and for whom millions may be considered loose change–will follow her example and become better billionaires.

In Her Own Words

MacKenzie is an accomplished writer, and I’d do her a disservice by reframing or rewording what she writes about her foundation, her perspectives, and why she gives as she does. So the following are excerpts from several essays MacKenzie wrote and posted on her YieldGiving.com site over the past six years. Each of these strike me as wisdom for those ready to be better millionaires, let alone better billionaires. You can read the full length of each of them here, and I encourage you to do so because these excerpts are just snippets of graceful wisdom and guidance.

From the Yield Giving homepage:

Yield: (verb) 1. to increase 2. to give up control

Established by MacKenzie Scott to share a financial fortune created through the effort of countless people, Yield is named after a belief in adding value by giving up control [emphasis mine].

From the Giving Pledge essay – May 2019:

We each come by the gifts we have to offer by an infinite series of influences and lucky breaks we can never fully understand. In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share. My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.

From the 116 Organizations Driving Change essay – July 2020:

Last year I pledged to give the majority of my wealth back to the society that helped generate it, to do it thoughtfully, to get started soon, and to keep at it until the safe is empty. There’s no question in my mind that anyone’s personal wealth is the product of a collective effort, and of social structures which present opportunities to some people, and obstacles to countless others.

From the Seeding by Ceding essay – June 2021:

Putting large donors at the center of stories on social progress is a distortion of their role. We are attempting to give away a fortune that was enabled by systems in need of change. My team’s efforts are governed by a humbling belief that it would be better if disproportionate wealth were not concentrated in a small number of hands, and that the solutions are best designed and implemented by others.

From the No Dollar Signs This Time essay – December 2021:

How much or how little money changes hands doesn’t make it philanthropy. Intention and effort make it philanthropy. If we acknowledge what it all has in common, there will be more of it. That’s why I keep referring to what I’m doing as “giving”, a word still being used to describe what humans have been doing with their time, focus, food, cash, and trust to lift each other up for thousands of years. It’s also why I’m not including here any amounts of money I’ve donated since my prior posts. I want to let each of these incredible teams speak for themselves first if they choose to, with the hope that when they do, media focuses on their contributions instead of mine.  

. . .

Each unique expression of generosity will have value far beyond what we can imagine or live to see.

From the Investing essay – December 2024

I love words, and this year this one has been on my mind a lot. It’s another one that seems to have undergone a kind of semantic shriveling. 

On the list of its big, beautiful, original definitions? To devote resources for a useful purpose. To endow with rights. To clothe.  

 . . .  

 The gratitude I feel to these non-profits, to these funds and companies, and to the people helping me give these assets away is similar. I’m inspired by all the ways people invest in each other.

From the We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For essay – October 15, 2025

The potential of peaceful, non-transactional contribution has long been underestimated, often on the basis that it is not financially self-sustaining, or that some of its benefits are hard to track. But what if these imagined liabilities are actually assets? What if these so-called weaknesses foster the strengths upon which the thriving (or even survival) of our civilization depends? What if the fact that some of our organizations are vulnerable can itself be a powerful engine for our generosity? What if acts of service that we can feel but can’t always measure expand our capacity for connection and trust? What if care is a way for all of us to make a difference in leading and shaping our countries? Votes are not the only way to show what we’d like to see more of in our societies. There are many ways to influence how we move through the world, and where we land.

What's the End Game?

I can’t speak for MacKenzie, but I can read the words she writes and discern the results of her actions. From her words and her actions, I observe two emerging ethics consistent with the Better Capitalism ethos: Enough and Mutuality. Clearly, more reasons to be a fan.

My prayer, figurately and literally, is that all the rest of the world’s billionaires turn to and closely follow MacKenzie’s example. In doing so, they’d join her on the inner journey of becoming truly wealthy, truly respected, and probably even truly loved. This is my prayer, because the world clearly needs a better class of billionaires, billionaires clearly need better lives, and MacKenzie is clearly showing the way.

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