Mackenzie Scott has become a major philanthropist since her 2019 divorce from Jeff Bezos, and she signed the Giving Pledge in May 2019 committing to give away at least half her wealth, according to Wikipedia.
She is a novelist and an early contributor to Amazon, and she has said her giving emphasizes trust based, unrestricted support, a model the Yield Giving website and Wikipedia describe as "no strings attached."
Yield Giving launched publicly in 2022 and the platform reflects Scott's approach of prioritizing community led organizations and underserved institutions, as stated on Yield's site and summarized in public reporting.
Scott announced large, rapid distributions beginning in July 2020, first reporting $1.7 billion to 116 organizations in a Medium post, and then announcing another $4.15 billion in December 2020, according to Wikipedia and her Medium essay.
As reported by Wikipedia, by the end of 2025 Scott had given a total of $26.3 billion to more than 1,600 organizations through Yield Giving, a total that multiple outlets have cited in coverage of her philanthropy.
Gifts, Giving Style And Wealth Context
Scott has prioritized community colleges, minority serving institutions and smaller nonprofits, often making gifts large enough to be transformative, Time reported, and requiring no follow up from recipients.
Specific large gifts reported in the sources include $436 million to Habitat for Humanity, $275 million to Planned Parenthood and $122.6 million to Big Brothers Big Sisters, as announced and recorded in news accounts and Wikipedia.
In March 2024 Scott ran an open call for community focused nonprofits with annual budgets between $1 million and $5 million, and she subsequently donated $640 million to 361 small nonprofits, with 279 groups receiving $2 million and 82 groups receiving $1 million, according to Wikipedia and Associated Press reporting.
Her giving has drawn both praise and scrutiny, and Wikipedia notes a December 2021 backlash after a Medium post when she declined to disclose recipients, after which she directed her team to build a public donation database called Yield Giving, posted in December 2022.
On wealth and holdings, sources differ in reported totals. Wikipedia cites the Bloomberg Billionaires Index figure of $40.0 billion and a 1.3 percent Amazon stake as of December 2025, while other reporting named in the sources said she remained worth about $42.7 billion and had reduced her stake by selling or donating roughly 58 million shares as of late 2025, according to Fortune and Bloomberg summaries.
Several outlets note that despite moving large sums to charities and selling or giving shares, Scott's wealth continued to grow because of Amazon share price gains, and commentators have observed that her unrestricted grants contrast with more traditional philanthropy practices.
