August 11, 2024
Regular readers of this blog know that I have a great deal of fondness for Mackenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, who is making it her life’s work to give away all of the many billions of dollars that she received in their divorce settlement. So far, according to her website yieldgiving.com, she has given away $17.3 billion.
She has some competition.
In June, I blogged about Michael Bloomberg’s $1 billion gift to Johns Hopkins Medical School, which will make tuition at the school completely free for students whose families earn less than $300,000. The gift will also cover living expenses and fees for students from families earning up to $175,000.
Bloomberg isn’t quite done yet.
It was recently announced that Bloomberg will be making donations totaling $600 million to the medical schools at five historically Black colleges and universities: $175 million will go to Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine (more than doubling the sizes of their endowments), while Charles Drew University of Medicine & Science will receive $75 million and Xavier University of Louisiana, which is opening a new medical school, will also receive a $5 million grant.
This was not the first time he’d given to these schools. In 2020, Bloomberg donated $100 million to four of these five schools, with most of that money going to reducing the debt load of enrolled students
Last year, Bloomberg donated over $3 billion to charity.
Meanwhile, some billionaires are spending their money on rocket ships and yachts….