MacKenzie Scott donated over $7 billion last year but was excluded from the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s top donors list due to her secretive approach

(SeaPRwire) –   Thanks to a series of historic donations last year and an extraordinary level of charitable giving, MacKenzie Scott has established herself as one of the world’s most generous philanthropists.

Yet the Chronicle of Philanthropy does not view her that way.

Despite donating over $7 billion to more than 120 organizations in 2025 through her foundation, Yield Giving, the Chronicle omitted her from its annual list of the top 50 donors.

Scott’s giving in 2025 alone surpassed the lifetime charitable contributions of her ex-husband, Jeff Bezos. However, her low-profile, discreet approach to philanthropy prevented her inclusion on the list. Scott is known for her secrecy—she avoids media attention for her donations and rarely shares details about her giving.

“MacKenzie Scott is among the notable omissions from the Philanthropy 50 list,” the Chronicle stated. “While it’s possible she made contributions through donor-advised funds that could have qualified her for the list, neither she nor her representatives provided that information to the Chronicle.”

Reaching Yield Giving is nearly impossible—repeated attempts to obtain details about past donations have gone unanswered. As a result, verifying contributions for lists like the Chronicle’s proved unfeasible. Still, Scott has been recognized by other organizations, such as Forbes, which highlighted both the speed of her giving and the proportion of her wealth she has donated—at least 40% of her net worth.

Since 2020, Scott has given more than $26 billion to charitable causes. In contrast, Forbes estimates that Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, have donated approximately $4.7 billion over their lifetimes—roughly one-fifth of Scott’s total since her 2019 divorce from Bezos, when she received about 4% of Amazon stock, valued then at $36 billion to $38 billion. Her current net worth stands at $38.9 billion, sustained largely by the continued rise in Amazon’s share price.

“Scott distributed grants totaling roughly $7 billion to at least 120 charities last year via her Yield Giving fund, yet she continues to withhold specifics about how much funding she channels through the organization,” the Chronicle noted.

Still, many observers found the exclusion puzzling.

“It strikes me as odd that MacKenzie Scott isn’t included on this list,” said Hans Peter Schmitz, the Bob and Carol Mattocks Distinguished Professor of Nonprofit Leadership at North Carolina State University, in an interview with The Conversation. “She claims to have given $7.1 billion in 2025. Had she met the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s requirements, she would have topped the list by a wide margin.”

Schmitz acknowledged, however, that the Chronicle’s criteria disqualified Scott, as she has “never disclosed sufficient details about her philanthropy since becoming an independent major donor following her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.”

“And that’s why she keeps getting left off year after year,” Schmitz added.

How MacKenzie Scott makes donations

Scott may be one of the world’s most generous donors, but she is also among the most enigmatic—so much so that some recipients initially mistook her donation emails for spam. This stems from Yield Giving’s practice of proactively reaching out to organizations with offers of funding, rather than responding to requests.

According to sources, her selection process is highly thorough. A defining feature of Scott’s approach is her preference for unrestricted grants, allowing recipient organizations full discretion in how they use the funds. This follows an intensive due diligence phase, as explained by Anne Marie Dougherty, CEO of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which received a $15 million donation from Scott in 2022 and an additional $20 million in fall 2025. The initial gift was the largest in the foundation’s history. Founded in 2006—the same year military journalist Bob Woodruff was severely injured by an IED in Iraq—the organization focuses on supporting veterans.

Dougherty said the vetting process involved submitting the organization’s strategic plan, audited financial statements, business plans, organizational chart, and grant-making procedures. Yet once the donation was made, Yield Giving took a hands-off approach.

“Unlike traditional funding models that often require lengthy applications, strict conditions, and extensive reporting, her method empowers organizations like ours to deploy funds quickly and creatively to tackle urgent challenges,” said Noni Ramos, CEO of Housing Trust Silicon Valley, after her organization received a $30 million grant from Scott in late 2024.

Scott’s reluctance to publicize her gifts and her trust in organizations to use funds as they see fit reflect her broader philosophy: she sees herself as just one part of a larger movement of generosity, aiming to inspire others as she has been inspired.

“The total dollar amount I’ve given will likely make the news, but any single figure represents a minuscule fraction of the countless acts of personal care being shared in communities this year,” Scott wrote in a December 2025 essay. “It is these cascading effects that make the impact of any individual act of kindness impossible to fully grasp.”

Each time she makes a donation, she reflects on the generosity she has personally experienced—such as free dental care from a local dentist during college, when she could barely afford basic necessities, and a $1,000 loan from her college roommate that allowed her to stay enrolled at Princeton University during her sophomore year.

“The value of peaceful, non-transactional giving has long been underestimated, often dismissed because it isn’t financially self-sustaining or because its benefits are difficult to measure,” Scott wrote. “But what if those perceived weaknesses are actually strengths?”

A version of this story was originally published on .com on March 11, 2026.

More on MacKenzie Scott:

• MacKenzie Scott has donated more than $26 billion—yet it has barely affected her net worth due to the strength of Amazon stock
• MacKenzie Scott is bypassing the Ivy League and reshaping the $79 billion higher education landscape by supporting HBCUs and community colleges
• MacKenzie Scott’s latest gift brings her total contributions to HBCUs to well over $1 billion