Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife donates BRL 4.2 million to Brazilian NGO

One of the biggest philanthropists in the world, MacKenzie Scott, donated R$ 4.2 million to Vetor Brasil, an organization that works with the public sector. The money will be allocated to online products that should help managers to make their areas more efficient.

“If you want to work with social impact at scale, the government is a legitimate place to do that”, says Joice Toyota, co-founder of the NGO. With this premise, since 2015 Vetor trains professionals to work in public administration and matches candidates and vacancies throughout Brazil.

Scott is the ex-wife of billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of tech giant Amazon.

The organization already has expertise in the allocation of professionals in public management: through Vetor, more than 700 people have already been to state and municipal governments in all states of Brazil in areas such as culture, sports and sanitation.

On the NGO side, there is investment in selection and training. At the other end, the government provides a commissioned post. “For a government to hire a person who was selected by Vetor, it gives up a political indication. This sign is important for us”, says Toyota.

When she started, the entrepreneur heard that it would be difficult to find managers willing to make such a concession. “Today we have a demand from governments that we cannot meet,” he says.

Therefore, the donation comes at a good time: the virtual space has also invaded the entity in recent years, in line with the technological transformation forced by the pandemic. Last year, they created an arm that develops online service platforms to support governments. The money goes precisely to this sector.

“Over the last six years, Vetor has worked a lot with these programs that are closer to governments and participants. We realized that, with this expertise, we could create online products on a larger scale — and even achieve our dream of reaching city halls , which are the most neglected entities”, says Toyota.

The idea is that the project is a toolbox for the public manager to use.

When the education secretary of a municipality needs to choose school directors, for example, he will be able to submit candidates to a platform certification and train his team to carry out professional interviews.

Matching professionals and positions across Brazil — the operation of the NGO’s most famous project, the Public Management Trainee — will also be offered online.

“All the real we are investing is not to support just one city hall. It is to develop a product that will be useful to everyone. We were already in this tune and Mackenzie’s support arrived at perfect timing”, says Toyota.

The Mackenzie team will not interfere with the NGO. The donation, made after a six-month review process, is unrestricted and will not require accountability. The idea is that the organization, which has knowledge of the local scenario, is free to apply the money in the way it deems most interesting.

For the organization’s dynamics, Toyota says the biggest impact will be having the ability to “make mistakes, learn fast and adjust these products so they scale.”

“In the world of the private sector, this seems obvious. In the third sector, the carte blanche for execution is a novelty”, he says.

The NGO, according to the founder, is non-partisan and works with governments of 14 different parties, “from the PSL to the PC do B”.

“We can think differently about many things. For example: the size of the State. We are not going to get into this discussion, but once the resource is there, how can we make the best possible management to deliver the best service?”, he says.