MacKenzie Scott, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, has donated billions over the years, and yet, she does not like any kind of spotlight for it. Scott likes to do her charity work without letting the world know. In 2025, she donated almost $7.2 billion to 186 organizations.
As Washington Post Journal reported, Scott’s way of donating is also discreet as organizations selected by her receive an email with the subject line “confidential” and then followed by a brief phone call then the donations are made.
In 2020, Scott donated $20 million to Native Forward, Albuquerque-based nonprofit. The organization received an email with the subject line saying “confidential” and then, after a call, the donation reached their account. Then again, after 5 years, in 2025, the same organization received another $50 million, which was made after a 15-minute call.
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The first donation from Scott helped the organization to launch new scholarships, grow advising, and move from a cramped rental to a permanent two-story headquarters. Moreover, they have also been able to set up a $40 million endowment now, something that would not have been possible without Scott’s help.
Given how low-key Scott’s profile is and how she maintains her philanthropic ventures under wraps, certain organizations also almost missed the opportunity to receive the donations. Something similar happened to Heidi M. Anderson, president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Back in 2020, she initially ignored several emails from Scott since they came from an unknown sender.
It should be noted here that the University of Maryland Eastern Shore is a historically Black school. After ignoring the emails for a while Anderson finally asked her vice president of advancement to take a look into the matter, and after a follow up, she learnt that they were receiving $20 million for the school.
Then again, in 2025, Scott donated another $38 million to the school. Speaking about how she felt when she first came to know about the donation from Scott, Anderson said, “It took my breath away.”
Scott operates with a small team who do their research before selecting the organizations that are eligible for her donations. She does not follow the usual methods of the organizations pitching themselves to her or trying to prove their worth for getting help.
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She and her team do their research quietly, and in a lot of cases, the organizations have no idea that they are about to receive a big amount before that “confidential” email arrives in their inbox.
Scott also donates to the organizations that genuinely need the money to continue doing their work. She does not choose big name institutes for her donations, and instead, with her research, she finds the ones who have not yet made it big but are doing the work they are supposed to.
Explaining her process of donations, Scott wrote in one of her essays on yieldgiving.com, “Because our research is data-driven and rigorous, our giving process can be human and soft.” Her way of doing charity sets a standard of its own where her actions indeed speak louder than her words.
