MacKenzie Scott Donates Record $7.1 Billion in 2025, Leading US Philanthropy

MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of billionaire Jeff Bezos, donated approximately $7.1 billion to charities and nonprofit organizations in the United States during 2025. This amount represented about one-third of all major philanthropic gifts in the US that year, which totaled around $19.2 billion, according to reports from Giving USA and Indiana University's Philanthropy School.

Scott's extraordinary donation capacity stems primarily from her divorce settlement with Bezos in 2019, through which she received roughly 4% of Amazon's shares. The value of these shares has significantly increased alongside Amazon's growth, with her net worth estimated at over $61 billion in 2021.

In 2025, Scott was the largest private donor in the US. Her philanthropic approach is characterized as "trust-based philanthropy," involving large, unconditional donations without requiring reporting from recipient organizations. Despite the scale of her giving, she maintains a low public profile and often remains absent from official donor rankings. Since 2019, her total donations have exceeded $26 billion.