ATLANTA — The Atlanta Habitat for Humanity and the Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity are two of the five Georgia affiliates to be chosen to receive a donation from American philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott.
Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, made a $436 million dollar donation to Habitat for Humanity International, with $13.5 million being given to the Atlanta Habitat and $1.25 million being given to the Southern Crescent Habitat.
The donation comes after Scott revealed that she had donated nearly $4 billion to 465 nonprofits according to a blog post on Wednesday. The billion-dollar donation also comes after the philanthropist pledged to give away the majority of her wealth in 2019.
“We look forward to sharing the work of these remarkable organizations through this database of their gifts, 1,257 to date since my pledge to give away this money with steadiness and care,” said Scott.
Rosalyn Merrick, the CEO and President at the Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, is grateful to be recognized for Habitat's work as a whole.
"We're so grateful that Ms. Scott and her team recognized the years of impact we together have achieved as a network, and are continuing to invest in the work we are already doing," she said.
Merrick said that the money donated will allow them to scale up their current efforts.
"This gift just helps us do all the things we were already doing, but reach more families. We have planned to do 40 builds, 155 repairs and serve a couple more hundred families in our education programs. We will continue to do that but grow those numbers in the next several years thanks to the generosity of Ms. Scott," she said.
Cynthia Jenkins, the CEO and President at Southern Crescent Habitat, told 11Alive that the donation was a complete surprise and that she found out that they had been chosen via a call with Scott.
"I got on the phone with her and it was quick," said Jenkins. "It was 'we have done a thorough investigation and heard about you all and the great works you're doing. You are one of the Habitat affiliates that we want to award money to.'"
According to Jenkins, the unexpected donation and its use are being discussed by their board. She said the money will be used in a purposeful way.
"We will come up with a policy and we will administer this in a very forward-thinking and long-term plan," said Jenkins.
Both Jenkins and Merrick confirmed that the donations given to their respective Habitat affiliates are the largest donations they've ever received.