MacKenzie Scott gave away more than $7 billion last year—but her secretive style got her snubbed from a top donors list

Thanks to multiple historic donations last year and an eye-popping volume of philanthropic gifts, Mac Kenzie 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. Although Scott donated more than $7 billion to more than 120 organizations last year through her philanthropic organization, Yield Giving, the Chronicle didn’t recognize her on its list of the top 50 donors this year. 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.” It’s essentially impossible to contact Yield Giving (Fortune has tried and failed innumerable times to receive more information about donations she’s made in the past). So, confirming donations for a list like the Chronicle compiles wasn’t possible. Still, Scott has appeared on other generous donor lists, including Forbes, which recognized her for the speed at which she gives and the amount of her net worth she’s donated (at least 40%). Since 2020, Scott has donated more than $26 billion, while Forbes currently estimates that Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, have given about $4.7 billion to charity over their lifetimes. That’s just about one-fifth of what Scott has donated since her 2019 divorce from Bezos, when she received about 4% of Amazon stock, amounting to roughly $36 billion to $38 billion at the time. Scott’s net worth (cu