Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated $84.5 million to the Girl Scouts, the organization said Tuesday.
The gift from MacKenzie Scott, 52, who was previously married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, marks the largest-ever single donation in the organization’s history, the group said. The money will specifically go toward creating “more equitable membership opportunities” in underserved areas; expanding programming on career readiness, mental health, and exploring STEM fields; bolstering research, staff, and volunteer training; and upgrading Girl Scout facilities to be more accessible and resilient to climate change, among other things, according to the news release.
The Girl Scout council in Southern Arizona decided to use the $1.4million it received from Scott to elevate the work they are already doing rather than to start a new program or initiative, said its CEO Kristen Garcia-Hernandez.
“We are a small council and we’re certainly not in a major metropolitan hub. So for us, gifts of this magnitude don’t come around very often,” “While the cookie program sustains us certainly and it’s wonderful and the girls are part of that process, which makes it even more beautiful, we certainly need more from the community,” Garcia-Hernandez said.
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