MacKenzie Scott donated $26.2 billion in five years, but why is she missing from the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s top 50 donors list?

MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, donated an estimated $26.2 billion in just five years, including about $7 billion in 2025 alone, as reported by Fortune. However, despite her massive donations and charity, the name of Mackenzie Scott did not appear on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of the top 50 donors this year. The reason behind this linked to billionaire's approach to charitable giving than the scale of her donations. She has consistently kept her philanthropy private, rarely seeking publicity or sharing details about her gifts, according to Fortune.

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MacKenzie Scott donated $7 billion in 2025

In 2025, Mackenzie Scott had a banner year and she distributed about $7 billion to thousands of organisations working on multiple causes ranging from housing and disaster recovery to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Her donations formed a huge chunk of the largest charitable gifts made during the year. Other major donors included Michael Bloomberg, who gave $4.3 billion, Bill Gates with $3.7 billion, Warren Buffett with $1.34 billion, and Susan and Michael Dell, who donated nearly $1 billion. “It was a positive year for charitable giving, with virtually all categories of recipient organizations achieving solid or better growth at the aggregate level,” Gabe Cooper, vice chair of Giving USA Foundation and founder and CEO of Virtuous, said in a statement.


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Why did the Chronicle of Philanthropy leave Scott off its list?

Despite her extraordinary level of charity, Mackenzie Scott did not make to this year's Philanthropy 50 list published by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Report suggest that the lack of information about her donations is a possible explanation for her name's absence from the donor list. Scott rarely publicises her charitable contributions and does not typically provide extensive details about her giving.

“MacKenzie Scott is among the notable absences on the Philanthropy 50 list,” according to the Chronicle. “While it is possible she made gifts to her donor-advised funds that would have earned her a spot on the Philanthropy 50, she and her representatives declined to provide such information to the Chronicle.”

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What shaped Mackenzie Scott's philanthropy

For Mackenzie Scott, charitable giving has never appeared to be primarily about recognition. Some of her approach to generosity stems from acts of kindness she experienced earlier in life. She has previously spoken about how her college roommate gave her $1,000 to help her avoid dropping out, while her dentist provided free dental work after learning she could not afford it.

Reflecting on how small acts of kindness can have far-reaching consequences, Scott wrote in a December 9 essay: “It is these ripple effects that make imagining the power of any of our own acts of kindness impossible,” Scott wrote in the Dec. 9 essay. “The potential of peaceful, non-transactional contribution has long been underestimated, often on the basis that it is not financially self-sustaining, or that some of its benefits are hard to track. But what if these imagined liabilities are actually assets?”

“Generosity and kindness engage the same pleasure centers in the brain as sex, food, and receiving gifts, and they improve our health and long-term happiness as well,” she wrote.

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No dent in her net worth

After her divorce from Jeff Bezos, Scott signed the Giving Pledge, committing to give away the majority of her wealth. According to Fortune, her net worth still stands at nearly $37 billion. When she was married to Jeff Bezos, she played a crucial role in Amazon’s founding and early operations, including helping with business plans and contracts. When the two took divorce in 2019, she received roughly a 4% stake in Amazon.

Since then, she’s reduced her stake by about 42%, selling or donating about 58 million shares, worth around $12.6 billion as of late 2025. She’s still worth billions today, despite having donated more than $26 billion through her philanthropic platform Yield Giving, which she founded in 2022.