Thanks to multiple historic donations last year and an eye-popping volume of philanthropic gifts, MacKenzie Scott has etched her way to becoming one of the world’s most generous philanthropists.
But the Chronicle of Philanthropy doesn’t see it that way.
Scott’s donations in 2025 alone eclipsed that of her ex-husband Jeff Bezos’ lifetime giving, but the billionaire philanthropist’s playbook got in the way of her being recognized on the list. Scott is notoriously secretive and under-the-radar with her donations, never seeking press coverage for her gifts and rarely offering insights into the donations she’s made.
“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.”
“Scott awarded grants totaling about $7 billion to at least 120 charities last year through her Yield Giving fund, but she continues to decline to provide details about how much money she is funneling into the grant maker,” the Chronicle continued.
Still, critics find the Chronicle’s exclusion bizarre.
Schmitz recognizes, though, the Chronicle’s methodology knocked Scott from the list since she’s “never provided sufficient information about her generosity since becoming a major donor on her own, following her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.”
“And that leaves her off the list year after year,” Schmitz said.
The due diligence process for Scott included sharing information such as the organization’s strategic plan, audited financials, business plans, organization chart, and grant-making process, Dougherty said. But after the donation was made, Yield Giving was very hands-off, she added.
The fact that Scott doesn’t make a big to-do about her donations and largely allows organizations to use gifts however they see fit goes back to her overall philanthropic philosophy: She’s just one cog of a generosity wheel, and works to inspire others as others have inspired her.
Indeed, every time she’s made a donation, she’s thought about the generosity from others she’s experienced in her life, including free dental work from a local dentist in college when she was using denture glue to get by—and her college roommate who loaned her $1,000 so she wouldn’t have to drop out during her sophomore year at Princeton University.
“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,” Scott wrote. “But what if these imagined liabilities are actually assets?”
