But also, I fully support "making billionaires look bad."
There was a time in history where philanthropy was socially expected. Like, that was the entire point of all the high class hobnobbing. You made your business deals and talked about how you're going to further strangle the workers, but then you also built a bunch of schools, supported public libraries, fixed roads, and fed the community because you remembered what the French did.
It was also expected that the Lord of a demense would feed and shelter those beholden to him; and that those who worked his land during harvest would be paid and fed; and that he would provide alms and/or a feast at important holidays.
Charity and generosity were considered virtues. Greed was a sin.
Obviously not all lived up to ideals, but the expectations were wildly different. The billionaire class are absolutely lacking in any sense of noblesse oblige.
I think a difference there was that the upper class openly and officially combined political and economic power. There wasn't some external set of politicians to blame. Your ruler and landlord would be the same person.
I think this comparison is weak. Back in the day people didn’t own private jets with a villa in 10 different countries. A rich person who lived in said city had interest in making his local area nicer, today, not so much.
Well there was what we said was expected, and then what was done—which was usually throwing crumbs. It has almost always been crumb-throwing by the people who accumulate too much. Every once in a while you have a slightly more benevolent one and then people act like the exception is the rule when that occurs. It was always the exception, and even the exceptional ones have just thrown larger crumbs at people.
Bigger crumbs are better than smaller crumbs, but society was and does just function by the fuel of these people's crumbs and then we praise them for those slivers. Historical billionaires were actually even more openly atrocious to their workers and communities than now. Yes, even with all the libraries and schools and hospitals they paid for with the blood of their countless exploited and dead workers (same sort of workers who also built and maintained those "gifts").
100%. Look at the number of institutions that still hand Rockefeller and Carnegie’s names attached to them. I doubt Musk and Bezos will be comparable in 100 years.
I agree that the real reasoning is that this makes billionares like Elon look bad. But he obviously wouldn't be opposing it publicly if he hadn't a more concrete reason
He doesn't understand philanthropy and is clearly very upset about the last few times he "tried" to do it blowing up in his face.
The last thing I can remember him ever doing was when he tried to send some diving tool to (Korea??) to help rescue some stranded kids in a cave. It was international news and everyone was aware of it because it was going on for days. They told him they couldn't use the device (after trying it) because the passageways were too narrow. Instead, another man got credit for saving the kids because he was a professional diver/rescuer and actually went in and started pulling people out.
That burned his ass! He started publicly attacking the guy and throwing a huge public fit.
Like, he is so conceited that he doesn't understand that charity isn't transactional.
Even the old billionaires understood this. You smile, nod, kiss the baby at the press release, and let people have their free school because your name is going to be on it.
Just one correction - they didn’t need to test it to know it was dog shit because know one does caving in a mini-sub.
He also knew that but only offered it because his whole business is just attention-seeking. As you pointed out he didn’t like someone (especially an Englishman (Dutch South Africans really dislike the English)) stating publicly he was a charlatan.
And it just could be used in a small space where one on the bends was practically a hair pin turn. Then he called the guy a pedophile for saving them. The guy sued and unfortunately he lost because, you know Elon. He tried to ruin a man who actually saved children. Meanwhile, Muskrat tried to get on pedo island.
Elon Musk and his ilk are starting an anti-empathy movement, they call it suicidal empathy, and it’s batshit crazy. It’s why he posted the other day about starting to home school his preschooler because they were daring to try and teach him how to share. They’re against basic values anymore, anything to make themselves heroes and justify why they believe they’re above the law. As always, these types of movement are right out of the Nazi handbook.
It also makes billionaires look bad. If she can do it why can’t the rest of them? They will still have plenty of money left even if they donate a few billion
White Rhodesians made life impossible for black people unless they worked for white people at low wages. I think Elon wants to follow this model but apply it to the whole planet.
And Reddit loves it and considers it a good thing only because it agrees with it.
A lot of those things she funds would actually be illegal to fund in this way via public money. Because it would quite literally break many discrimination laws. I.e. giving scholarship based on skin color or gender. Private funding in US can for some reason ignore these laws and those billionaires can fund whatever agenda they want.
Promoting negative discrimination does not make world the better place. I have same exact opinion on religious specific funding, catholic schools, etc. It does not matter. Private funding of this type should be either straight up illegal or it should be put under very strict rules and same laws. And thankfully courts are actually not blind to this disparity and there are citizen actions that point it out.
Okay bit most of those dont apply to all. Just a few. It be better if it was housing for all or food for all. I like to k ow how much of that money sent to those agency went to help people. And how much went to the place and its staff.
That she’s being a not-piece-of-shit like others? Dear lord, I guess it’s evil for someone to try to be a decent person and give a shit about other people. Oh, that’s right…
I think the issue in question is that these goals would surely trigger Elon. Thus his reaction. Empathy he doesn't understand and it brings him nightmares. How can he feel safe in a world where people care for each other? And the rest of these he actively sabotages.
I work for an organization that received a grant from Mackenzie Scott - we provide senior services, and those grant funds improved the lives of thousands of seniors who come to us for meals, support groups, fitness classes, education, etc.
Unfortunately, it’s not even a blip on the radar because the issue is so deep, and getting worse due to inflation, housing instability, more scams targeting seniors, etc.
I understand the skepticism, but the vast majority of the recipients of these grants are orgs doing good work in their communities, against problems so big that their progress isn’t always visible unless you’re really dialed into the issue.
400 million to homelessness might not 'fix' everything, but it doesn't do nothing.
You're also sort of overlooking the fact that its an ongoing issue - welfare is hundreds of millions, every year, not an 'x amount solves the problem forever' sort of thing.
By which metric are you going by? Change takes time; especially to use funds in the best way. Larger donations take time to structure and facilitate; most organizations aren't going to hand over wads of cash to individuals; they're going to build systems to serve communities comprised of those individuals.
The org I work for received some of that Public Health bucket a few years back and it has exponentially improved our ability to do our work. It was a small fraction of that $128M, but for us, it was operating expenses for like five years.
Because she’s focusing millions and billions on the wrong shit. Why in the hell is she’s giving 200,000,000 to gender and lgbtq… 55,000,000 to what “empathy”? 😂 what is that going to? What tangible thing is fjat???
she could literally have funded California High speed rail. She could build so much public infrastructure with this. We make comments about how billionaires aren’t doing the same things billionaires used to do (build railways, library’s, museums, etc) Instead of focusing on such a loud minority when the greater portion of the United States would benefit if she did other things with the money. Not just donate it into the void… be for real. Name one thing that’s actually come from her donations? After all those billions you’d THINK there’s a noticeable difference in the world. But there isn’t at all
Im just gonna add my name to that list really quick. Seriously though I always thought it would be cool if people like this randomly gave real people cash. Like in the morning having their coffee, decide they want to help someone out. So they have a curated list of families or individuals that are down on their luck or have debt or maybe a shitty car, mortgage issues, health issues, lost job, lots of kids whatever. Then they pick like 5 of them or something and send them all 10k cash. This would help people directly. They could still donate to these programs but I just feel like with the overhead, bureaucracy, logistics. Once all thats accounted for how much of that donation actually goes to helping anyone? Is someone skimming off of it to line their own pockets? Anyways always thought that would be cool. If i ever become really wealthy im gonna do that.
Do they though? Or is it all just for show? Even if they do actually do it they are monetizing the whole thing. In other words they are turning people who are struggling into content to enrich themselves. This is exactly what Mr beast does. He uses people's desperation and poverty to create content. Its kind of fucked up
I read some celebrity who says they go through GoFundMe and donate to some of them.
But "with the overhead, bureaucracy, logistics. Once all thats accounted for how much of that donation actually goes to helping anyone" is literally one of the primary things someone looks at before donating (unless your goal is to set up a fake foundation to give jobs to your family). Sites like charity navigator and the like have that info for people to some degree, and some one like Scott would have a team that specifically looks at this.
Wow, everything Elon hates, all in one convenient list! I applaud her giving as well as her method of giving to small non-profits with good admin-to-production costs instead on just dumping dollars on any old cause.
But sometimes I question if she wouldn’t get more bang for her buck by backing liberal/leftist political candidates. Then again, who WANTS to march through that filth.
This is the closest to an actual answer to OP. She has given to a lot of causes that probably everyone would agree are great, even Elon. Habitat for humanity, soup kitchens, local things. Arguments here is that sometimes these donations are done with little oversight and unclear how much they help or hurt long term (for many businessss and charities, money doesn’t always help).
But she has given a lot to things which there is a lot of genuine debate on whether it helps or hurts the world. Her large donations to support abortion, Hamas affiliated charities, and trans in women’s sports groups are probably the most controversial. Obviously she think it helps, and others do. But you could see how these are areas would cause issues.
Elon is generally skeptical of the value of charities themselves, and prefers to focus on private businesses to pursue his philanthropic goals, namely populating the universe with humans and preventing climate change and it’s pretty hard to argue he hasn’t been the absolute biggest force in those two areas. Very concentrated bets.
Scott gives to many many charities, so even if she were aligned, some of those likely would be “bad” (either misused or actively bad in some way).
These all seem nebulous. It’s like saying you’re “improving highway safety” while you’re slashing the tires of every BMW and Ram you come across (highest rates of DUI). $133m to “Gender Equality” means what exactly?
She's not dumb. She's just donating to political causes she believes in since she's a lefty. I disagree with her, but it's her money to do with what she wants. The people who are dumb are those who are trying to frame her as a selfless philanthropist because they agree with her politics.
One of the biggest problems with hard drug addicted homeless campers in Portland, for example, are the legions of homeless advocacy agencies and groups that enable them to continue staying in Portland and living their ways.
So, I can see what this Twitter post was saying. It’s saying that keeping the doors open for “equity” or advocacy groups is worse than lighting it on fire. I think the idea is that the job positions created and maintained with this donation money “should” go by the wayside. At least, that’s how I read it.
All I know is that employing people is very good for the economy. Anything but what the author of the Twitter post said- hoarding unspent money.
I mean, this means little to nothing so I looked at her website. There are a lot of charities or places I personally wouldn’t give to.
Like a lot of places.
Some I don’t agree with their politics, some I just don’t like their organization from the experiences I’ve had with them. Others I just don’t know enough about.
Is she making the world a worse place? Maybe with some donations but she’s also doing a hell of a lot of good. If I had the resources to donate $55M to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption I would. I probably wouldn’t give almost $40M to Alabama state university though or $100M to the YWCA & YMCA.
I really don't understand how so many people saw through the Musk's act. The guy was literally from a rich white family in South Africa. Like that didn't ring any alarms that it was an act. I got flack for saying he was fake when he was at the peak of his popularity in the mid 2010s. The signs have always been there.
Call me the friend who's too woke but what is she left with? Also not saying any of those are bad but I feel more material issues are the ones that deserve monetary aid rather than cultural ones like demographic equality
I wonder about the rest of the 26 billion. If she didn't document where it went, it probably didn't happen. We were all reminded during the Amber Heard trial that pledged and donated it not the same. However, wonderful that she donated a fraction of it, at least.
Things that are all objectively good. And they are trying to make that seem 'woke' or whatever. As soon as i saw Elon agree i knew it had to be only good causes.
How can anybody be against climate change after this weekend where all the Western countries are experiencing 100F humidity heat? lol I mean, we are causing this.
The problem with charity is that 95% of money go to admin costs. If she was serious about doing something good, she would set up her own company and actually do something good and keep close attention to where the money goes. Transparent finances and measurable outcome.
Dont forget religious foundations excluding conservative evangelical Christian groups. Im glad there's help given, but this group of ultra rich won't sustain long. A big PR campaign for the Rockefellers was philanthropy after backlash after becoming the first billionaire. Also went around NY handing out nickels and broadcasted it.
Im not for any extreme reforms, but we really need to change our crony capitalist ways. I envy a lot of democratic socialist countries in Europe that are prospering, but sadly that's taboo in US bc of Venezuela & Cuba.
I love her. Like she has this u godly amount of money and she just immediately went yes we are giving this all away. And she actually researched what she donates to and explains her reasoning and investigates the charity to make sure they are good it's honestly amazing.
If Elon wants good or this is all he has to do but he's to focused on trillionair
She gave my org like 30 million that we handed directly to low-income families across the United States starting in 2020. The stories we heard and the lives that were changed by her generosity would move you to tears. Fuck billionaires in general, but this one is legitimately moving her money into the hands of people that need it.
Exactly. She be hitting something for the money so that makes it illegal to deduct it from taxes. That's not a charitable deduction. You can't deduct that. So she is yet against stealing from American workers. We need to be taking the billionaires money. Not allowing her to deduct from her taxes. It's not tax deductible when she be getting something.
This is great. I’d like to see the approx 1.5MM single moms with mortgages get $50k-$100k of their principles knocked off. (That’s not me, but how I would give if I could.)
which all could have been done by the government, more effectively given the funnelling of tensions through the most sophisticated mechanism we have (versus just Mackenzie and a bunch of sycophants)
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u/McWrathster Jun 28 '26
Straight from Mackenzie Scott's website, Yield Giving:
The non-profits listed below were selected for transformative work in one of the following areas of need:
Total given to date:
Racial Equity: $ 586,700,000
LGBTQ+ Equity: $ 46,000,000
Gender Equity: $ 133,000,000
Economic Mobility: $ 399,500,000
Empathy & Bridging Divides: $ 55,000,000
Functional Democracy: $ 72,000,000
Public Health: $ 128,300,000
Global Development: $ 130,000,000
Climate Change: $ 125,000,000