When Mackenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos and the single richest woman in the world, pledged in 2019 to donate much of her approximately $61-billion dollar fortune to charity, she didn’t set any particular timeline. “We each come by the gifts we have to offer by an infinite series of influences and lucky breaks we can never fully understand. In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” she wrote when she signed the Giving Pledge, a pledge taken by some of the world’s wealthiest people to give away at least half of what they have. “My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.”