Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announced that her charitable donations for 2025 totaled $7.17 billion, benefiting roughly 225 organizations, according to a blog post she shared Tuesday.
Scott’s 2025 contributions bring her total giving since 2019 to $26.3 billion. The donations supported a wide range of nonprofits, including historically Black colleges and universities, as well as organizations addressing poverty, social justice, and climate change. In her blog post, Scott emphasized that the dollar amounts are a small reflection of the broader care and generosity being shared within communities each year.
Scott ranks behind only Warren Buffett and Bill Gates in lifetime philanthropic giving, with an estimated net worth of $29.9 billion. She signed The Giving Pledge following her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, committing to donate the bulk of her wealth over her lifetime. Scott has focused her philanthropy on organizations with strong leadership and measurable impact, particularly those serving communities with high food insecurity, racial inequities, poverty, and limited access to philanthropic resources.
In her essay, Scott reflected on the broader culture of giving in the U.S., citing data showing Americans donated more than $590 billion in 2024. She noted that much of the nation’s generosity occurs on a small scale, with over 70% of Americans giving both time and money to people they know, and half doing the same for strangers.
Scott also shared personal stories that inspired her philanthropic approach, including a college dentist who provided free dental care and a roommate who lent her $1,000 to prevent her from dropping out of Princeton. She highlighted her roommate’s later founding of Funding U, a student lender for low-income students.
Scott encouraged civic participation in all its forms, from monetary donations to acts of kindness, emphasizing that respect, empathy, and inspiration are meaningful contributions. Her 2025 donations maintained her long-standing approach of giving without restrictions, allowing organizations to use the funds as they see fit. She has consistently sought to center the voices of those directly addressing inequities, rather than highlighting her own role as a donor.