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MacKenzie Scott Leads 2025 Megagifts as U.S. Giving Tops $617.2 Billion
Large gifts and bequests drove the increase as donors responded to economic growth, federal funding cuts and urgent charity appeals, researchers said.
- On Tuesday, the Giving USA Foundation and Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy reported Americans donated $617.2 billion to charities in 2025, a 5.7% increase marking the first time yearly giving exceeded $600 billion.
- MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, led individual giving with $6.65 billion in 2025, bringing her cumulative total to $26.2 billion over five years through her charity Yield Giving.
- Megagifts totaled $19.2 billion in 2025, with Scott providing one-third of that figure alongside major donors Michael Bloomberg , Bill Gates , and Warren Buffett .
- Charitable bequests surged 16.6% to an estimated $62.19 billion, a rise the Giving USA Foundation identified as a potential signal of the Great Wealth Transfer bolstered by strong stock market performance.
- Gabe Cooper, vice chair of the Giving USA Foundation, expressed mixed feelings about megagifts, warning against "a growing dependence on the megawealthy, whose giving patterns might be more volatile year to year.
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MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Despite wanting to keep her gigantic philanthropy quiet, MacKenzie Scott’s giving keeps making a splash. Of the $19.2 worth of megagifts made by donors in 2025, Scott’s giving represented one-third, according to data provided to Fortune from Giving USA and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, had her banner philanthropic year in 2025, when she donated about $7 billion, whic…
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources29
Leaning Left9Leaning Right4Center12Last UpdatedBias Distribution48% Center
Bias Distribution
- 48% of the sources are Center
48% Center
L 36%
C 48%
R 16%
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