MacKenzie Scott is concluding the year with her most significant philanthropic move yet. The billionaire author and philanthropist announced on December 9 that she donated $7.1 billion to nonprofits in 2025 — her largest annual total to date and a significant increase from the $2.6 billion she gave in 2024. The latest round pushes her overall giving since 2019 to $26.3 billion.
Scott, who launched her philanthropic efforts in earnest after her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, continues to reshape big-ticket charity with her trademark approach: large, unrestricted grants with no application process, no detailed reporting requirements, and no strings attached. Instead, she gives organizations complete control over how to use the funding. This model has drawn widespread praise across the nonprofit sector for enabling faster and more flexible work on the ground.
This year’s gifts focused on nonprofits working in equity, social justice, education, public health, economic mobility and climate resilience, with significant attention on groups led by people of color and leaders from other historically marginalized communities. Research groups tracking Scott’s giving estimate that more than 2,000 organizations have received support since 2019, with a typical grant landing around $5 million.
Major Recipients
• HBCUs: More than a dozen historically Black colleges and universities collectively received $783 million, including a $70 million award to the United Negro College Fund. Scott’s total support for HBCUs since 2020 now tops $1.35 billion.
• Native American education: Native Forward Scholars Fund received $50 million to expand scholarships for Indigenous students.
• Public universities: UC Merced was awarded $38 million, its second major gift from Scott in a week.
• Climate, health & justice groups: A wide range of organizations were included in the broader $7.1 billion total, though many have not publicly disclosed exact figures.
News of Scott’s latest round made waves quickly on X (formerly Twitter). Some users celebrated the scale and speed of Scott’s giving. In contrast, others questioned nonprofit accountability or joked about hoping she’d fund their personal dreams. The split reflects the ongoing debate surrounding big-donor philanthropy and the extent to which wealthy individuals should influence public-interest work.
Scott, who signed the Giving Pledge in 2019 and has pledged to give away the majority of her wealth, runs her efforts through Yield Giving. This low-profile advisory operation relies on a network of experts to select recipient organizations. She has also begun shifting more of her investments into mission-aligned funds that prioritize social impact alongside returns — a move designed to sustain her rapid pace of giving.
With billionaire wealth in the U.S. continuing to climb, Scott’s approach stands out for its speed and its trust-based philosophy. If she continues at this rate, analysts say her total giving could surpass $50 billion by the end of the decade.
