Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott said her team will share details about her philanthropy in the “year to come” following a blog post that led to some criticism about her giving style.
In an effort to reduce the attention she draws, Scott wrote on her Medium blog Wednesday that she wouldn’t reveal in the post how much she donated to charity since her last announcement in June. She had made all her prior donation announcements — including how much money she gave and who she gave it to — on Medium.
“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,” Scott, whose fortunes by Forbes is estimated at $59 billion, wrote.
The post led to praise for her focus on the recipients, as well as criticism from some who said the lack of details about her donations created transparency issues.
In a Twitter reply Wednesday evening to philanthropy scholar Ben Soskis, who had called the lack of transparency “problematic,” Scott said her team is in the process of “sharing details about our first 2+ years of work, including recent gifts, and look forward to sharing that in the year to come in another forum,”
Soskis, a senior researcher at the Urban Institute, had told The Associated Press that trying “to redefine who should get the most respect and attention as a donor is really laudable.” However, he said Scott’s approach of trying to focus on the grantee “also undermines the public’s right to hold the wealthiest among us to account in terms of where they’re giving away money.”
On Twitter, Scott said everyone can share information about their donations to teach and inspire others.
“Information, too, is an important form of giving,” she added.
