MacKenzie Scott keeps her giving out of the public eye—she lets recipients decide whether to disclose grant amounts, make unsolicited grants, and acknowledge her giving only through annual or semi-annual online postings. One thing that isn’t hidden about his offerings? Their size.
Scott has given away $7.2 billion by 2025, the philanthropist revealed in a blog post earlier this month. An annual review brings his total giving over the past six years to more than $26 billion. It also puts him behind billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates in lifetime giving.
Scott, who has an estimated fortune of $30 billion linked largely to his Amazon stake from his previous marriage to Jeff Bezos, pledged in 2019 to donate the bulk of this fortune to charity. If this year’s totals are any indication, he’s on pace for that goal: his 2025 giving far exceeds the $2.6 billion and $2.1 billion he gave in 2024 and 2023, respectively.
“This dollar amount will likely be reported in the news, but any dollar amount is a vanishingly small fraction of the human care shared by communities this year,” Scott wrote in his blog post. He cited the $471 billion donated to American charities in 2020, nearly a third of which came from gifts of less than $5,000, as evidence of the power of collective philanthropy.
Of the nearly 200 organizations supported by Scott in 2025, about 120 had also received grants. The single largest grant went to Forests, People, Climate (FPC), a collaborative philanthropic effort focused on reversing tropical deforestation, which received $90 million—bringing its total funding to more than $1 billion. “Now is the time for climate philanthropy to act with vision and courage: to embrace the power of forests and give back to the brave leaders who are most worthy of protecting them,” said Lindsey Allen, executive director of the FPC, in a statement announcing the gift earlier this month.
The second largest donation went to another environmental organization, the Ocean Resilience & Climate Alliance, while dozens of other large gifts flowed to education. He donated $70 million to both UNCF and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which supports historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and gave $63 million each to Prairie View A&M University, Morgan State University and Howard University. Other notable education-focused recipients include the Hispanic Studies Fund and the Native Forward Scholars Fund, which received $70 million and $50 million, respectively.
Because of this, education emerged as the biggest beneficiary of Scott’s 2025 giving, accounting for 18 percent of the total. Organizations focused on economic security and funding and rehabilitation each received 13 percent, while environmental causes accounted for 12 percent. More money went to groups working on equality and justice, democratic processes, health, and arts and culture.
Despite the size of his grant, Scott’s approach stands out as non-restrictive, giving grantees complete control over how the funds are spent. That flexibility is widely accepted, according to a recent study from the Center for Effective Philanthropy.which found that nearly 90 percent of organizations surveyed reported improved long-term financial sustainability as a result of Scott’s contributions. The average grant size was $5 million.
Scott said his generosity stems from the kindness he has received from others. “Who was I thinking of giving every time I made each of the thousands of gifts I have been able to give?” he wrote. “It was a local dentist who offered me free dental work when he saw me get a broken tooth with dental implant glue in college.” It was my college roommate who found me crying, and he followed through on his wish to loan me thousands of dollars to keep me from missing school my freshman year.”
Her roommate, Jeannie Tarkenton, later founded Funding U, a loan company that provides loans to low-income students without the need for co-signers. Scott has bankrolled the company, he noted in his latest blog post, explaining that “[jumped] in the opportunity to be one of the people who support his dreams of supporting students as he once supported me.”
Scott’s financial contributions to Funding U will be in the form of an investment rather than a donation. Alongside his philanthropy, he announced last year that he plans to pursue for-profit investments in “mechanized businesses” aimed at addressing challenges such as affordable housing and access to health care.
