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Author and philanthropist mackenzie scott On Tuesday, nonprofits disclosed donations of $7.1 billion in 2025, marking a significant increase in their annual giving compared to recent years.
Writing in an essay on his website, Scott said, “This total dollar amount will be reported in the news, but any dollar amount is just a small fraction of the individual expressions of caring being shared in communities this year.”
Scott agreed to donate $2.6 billion in 2024 and $2.1 billion in 2023. This year’s gifts bring his total giving since 2019 to $26.3 billion.
Scott’s donations have attracted the attention of nonprofits and other charitable funders because they come with no strings attached and are often much larger than the annual budgets of the recipient organizations. Forbes estimates Scott’s net worth at $33 billion, the majority of which comes from Amazon shares he received following his divorce from the company’s founder in 2019. jeff bezos,
With the exception of an open call for applications in 2023, it is not possible to apply for his funding nor reach out to him directly, as Scott has no public facing office or foundation. Organizations are typically informed through an intermediary that Scott is donating to them without any preamble or warning.
Ahead of his announcement on his website Yield Giving, more than a dozen historically black colleges and universities revealed they had received $783 million in donations from Scott so far this year, according to research by Rutgers University professor and HBCU expert Marybeth Gasman.
,One One of the things I really admire about MacKenzie Scott is that she’s like an equity machine, Gasman said, especially at a time when efforts to promote equity in education have been attacked by the Trump administration. He also said Scott’s gifts to HBCUs this time are larger than his 2020 round of donations.
Of the schools that had previously received funding from Scott, not all received the gift this time and some were also first-time recipients. In total, Gassman has tracked $1.35 billion in donations from Scott to HBCUs since 2020.
Additionally, UNCF, the largest provider of scholarships to minority students, received $70 million from Scott, and said it will invest the gift in a collective endowment it is creating for participating HBCUs. The other $50 million went to the Native Forward Scholars Fund, which also received a previous gift from Scott and provides college and graduate scholarships to Native American students.
Unlike Scott’s gifts, most foundations or major donors make grants directly to specific programs and require an application and updates about the impact of the nonprofit’s work. Scott does not ask grant recipients to report how they used the money.
Research In 2023 the Center for Effective Philanthropy looked at the impact of Scott’s donations and found that some recipients have struggled to manage the money or seen other funders withdraw.
Kim Mazzuca, CEO of a California-based nonprofit, $10,000 degreesaid his organization was notified of the first $42 million gift from Scott earlier this year.
She said, “I was filled with so much joy. I was speechless and my words were stuttering a bit.”
10,000 Degrees provides scholarships, advising and other assistance to low-income students and aims to help them graduate college without taking on debt. Mazzuca said nonprofits typically grow slowly, but this gift will allow them to reach more students, test some technology tools and start an endowment.
Mazzuca credited Scott for investing in proven solutions that already existed.
“She comes from a very deep, reflective place, very heartfelt,” Mazzuca said. “And she’s just providing these financial tools as a tool for people to recognize that this is what they’ve been waiting for.”
The idea references a prophecy from the Hopi tribe that ends with the line, “We are what we have been waiting for.” Mazzuca said she builds on years of predestination to empower her organization and the students it supports to recognize their power to shape our world.
In October, Scott posted an essay under that title on his website and shared the prediction. The essay, which he expanded to announce his donation in December, also shows how acts of generosity and kindness can have an impact far and wide. She cited her experiences getting help in college, including a dentist who repaired a tooth for free and her roommate who loaned her $1,000.
Scott has now invested in that same roommate’s company, which provides loans to students who would otherwise struggle to obtain financing from banks. This investment appears to be part of an effort Scott announced last year to move more of his money into “mission-aligned” investments, rather than into vehicles that simply seek the highest monetary returns.
In his 2025 essay, Scott urged people to take action, writing, “There are many ways to influence how we move in the world, and where we end up.”
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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits is supported through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.