Jeff Bezos’ Wife Hit With Finance-Related Loss After Her ‘Confidential’ Emails Were Revealed
Mackenzie Scott is one of the world’s most generous philanthropists. There’s no doubt about that. Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, who has a stated goal of giving away most of the money she got in her divorce settlement to charity during her lifetime, donated $7.2 billion in just 2025 alone, which brings her total to a staggering $26 billion in the last five years. That’s more than her ex-husband Bezos, the world’s fourth-richest man, has given to charity across his entire life.
However, the approach she’s taken to her philanthropy has, ironically, left her out of a top donors list. The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of the top 50 donors this past year doesn’t include Scott. Why?
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“MacKenzie Scott is among the notable absences on the Philanthropy 50 list,” the Chronicle said. “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.”
Fortune has reported that it’s impossible to contact Scott’s company, Yield Giving, so confirming donations just isn’t possible. But Scott has appeared on other donor lists, like the one put together by Forbes, which made a special note of the speed at which she gives and the amount of her net worth she’s donated (at least 40%).
“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 also said.
For some, the fact that she was left out makes no sense. “I find it odd that MacKenzie Scott isn’t on this list,” Hans Peter Schmitz, a professor in nonprofit leadership at North Carolina State University, told The Conversation. “She says she gave $7.1 billion in 2025. If she had met the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s criteria, that would have landed her in first place by far.”
However, he recognized that the Chronicle’s methodology is the issue, as 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,” which “leaves her off the list year after year,” Schmitz said.
But, isn’t the point of charity just to give back without expecting something in return? And that includes making lists about how much you actually give?
Scott is reportedly still worth roughly $39 billion, despite having given so much to charity. Her ex-husband Bezos, meanwhile, has a reported net worth of $230.2 billion.
In December of last year Scott published an essay on her website discussing her 2025 charity contributions. “This dollar total will likely be reported in the news, but any dollar amount is a vanishingly tiny fraction of the personal expressions of care being shared into communities this year,” she wrote.
This all comes after reports of the hush hush way her company gives donations was reported. It involves “quiet research” with help from a “small internal” staff and advisers.
One example: In 2020, Albuquerque-based nonprofit Native Forward received $20 million from Scott. All the warning they had was an email to the organization with the word “confidential” in the subject line. Sounds like someone who’s not trying to make it into any lists.
