Despite wanting to keep her gigantic philanthropy quiet, MacKenzie Scott's giving keeps making a splash.
Of the $19.2 billion worth of megagifts made by donors in 2025, Scott's giving represented one-third, according to data provided to Fortune from Giving USA and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, had her banner philanthropic year in 2025, when she donated about $7 billion, which brought her **** ulative giving to $26.2 billion in just five years across thousands of organizations focused on housing, DEI, disaster recovery, and many more causes.
Other 2025 megadonors included Michael Bloomberg ($4.3 billion), Bill Gates ($3.7 billion), Warren Buffett ($1.34 billion), and Susan and Michael Dell (nearly $1 billion). These megadonors are part of the larger philanthropic engine in the U.S., which totaled a whopping $617.2 billion in 2025, according to a report published by Giving USA and IU's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy released Tuesday. This included philanthropic donations from individuals, bequests, foundations, and corporations to U.S. charities. The total is a 5.7% jump from the previous year.
"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. Some of the organization types that received the most funding include religion, human services, education, health, international affairs, and arts and culture.
Despite Scott's extreme generosity in 2025, the Chronicle of Philanthropy didn't recognize her on its list of the top 50 donors this year. That's due mostly to Scott's quiet nature of giving. She is notoriously under-the-radar with her donations, never personally seeking press coverage for her gifts and rarely offering insights into the donations.
Of the $19.2 billion worth of megagifts made by donors in 2025, Scott's giving represented one-third, according to data provided to Fortune from Giving USA and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, had her banner philanthropic year in 2025, when she donated about $7 billion, which brought her **** ulative giving to $26.2 billion in just five years across thousands of organizations focused on housing, DEI, disaster recovery, and many more causes.
Other 2025 megadonors included Michael Bloomberg ($4.3 billion), Bill Gates ($3.7 billion), Warren Buffett ($1.34 billion), and Susan and Michael Dell (nearly $1 billion). These megadonors are part of the larger philanthropic engine in the U.S., which totaled a whopping $617.2 billion in 2025, according to a report published by Giving USA and IU's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy released Tuesday. This included philanthropic donations from individuals, bequests, foundations, and corporations to U.S. charities. The total is a 5.7% jump from the previous year.
"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. Some of the organization types that received the most funding include religion, human services, education, health, international affairs, and arts and culture.
Despite Scott's extreme generosity in 2025, the Chronicle of Philanthropy didn't recognize her on its list of the top 50 donors this year. That's due mostly to Scott's quiet nature of giving. She is notoriously under-the-radar with her donations, never personally seeking press coverage for her gifts and rarely offering insights into the donations.
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