MacKenzie Scott

She has given away over $26B since 2019.

MacKenzie Scott helped build Amazon from day one.

Not just as Jeff Bezos’ wife but as his co-founder, accountant, business planner, HR rep, and book packer.

She met Bezos in 1992 at D.E. Shaw.

She interviewed him for a job. Fell in love with his laugh.

Six months later, they were married.

In 1994, they quit Wall Street, drove from New York to Seattle, and wrote the business plan for an online bookstore that would become Amazon.

She handled early accounts.

Negotiated the first freight deal.

Wrapped books and CDs in a warehouse during the holiday rush.

Then she stepped back to raise their four kids and pursue her dream of being a novelist.

In 2005, she published The Testing of Luther Albright, a book that took 10 years to write.

She also founded an anti-bullying nonprofit, Bystander Revolution, and served as its executive director.

Then came the divorce.

In 2019, after 26 years of marriage, MacKenzie and Jeff split.

The headlines focused on the money: she walked away with 4% of Amazon, worth $35.6B at the time.

So she signed the Giving Pledge: a vow to give away at least half her wealth.

In July 2020, she donated $1.7B to 116 organizations.

Focusing on racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, public health, and climate change.

In December 2020, she gave another $4.15B.

Then $2.7B in 2021.

She launched Yield Giving, a database of her donations.

She made unrestricted gifts.

No applications. No strings. No long grant cycles.

By 2023, she’d donated over $17B to 2,300+ organizations.

For many nonprofits, it was more than their entire annual budget.

Then in March 2024, she opened the floodgates: an open call for small, community-led nonprofits with annual budgets of $1M-$5M.

6,000 orgs applied.

361 received a total of $640M in funding.

By 2025, her total giving crossed $19.3B across 2,450 nonprofits, from education to economic mobility, gender equity, and health.

And she says she’s just getting started.