MacKenzie Scott, the novelist and philanthropist whose divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2019 made her one of the world’s wealthiest women, continues to reshape the landscape of charitable giving. As of December 2025, Scott’s net worth stands at $40.0 billion, largely derived from her 1.3 percent stake in Amazon, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Scott’s philanthropic efforts, channeled through her Yield Giving platform, have already disbursed $26.3 billion to over 1,600 organizations. This giving is not simply a matter of wealth redistribution, but appears deeply rooted in personal experiences of financial vulnerability. Scott has publicly recounted receiving a crucial $1,000 loan from a college roommate to remain enrolled at Princeton University.
“Because of ripple effects, you can’t ever know the full reach of a single act of generosity,” Scott wrote in an essay published on the Yield Giving website. She specifically recalled the assistance she received during her undergraduate years. “The local dentist gave me free dental work when he saw me fixing a broken tooth with denture adhesive, in college. A college roommate found me crying and lent me $1,000, helping me stay in school.”
That act of generosity from her Princeton roommate, Jeannie Ringo Tarkenton, has had a lasting impact, inspiring Tarkenton to found Funding U, a company that provides small, low-interest loans to students facing financial hardship. Funding U has distributed approximately $80 million in loans to around 8,000 students, according to Princeton University reports. Tarkenton, however, downplayed the significance of her initial loan to Scott, suggesting Scott would have likely completed her degree regardless. “I always say she would have graduated without that loan, just like, probably, many of the thousands of kids we help, because they are hard-working people trying to figure things out,” Tarkenton told Princeton Alumni Weekly. “But small gifts add up all over—or big gifts, when it comes to MacKenzie’s generosity.”
Scott’s commitment to philanthropy extends beyond personal anecdotes. In the fall of 2025 alone, she donated over $400 million to organizations focused on education and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), with many recipients receiving the largest donations in their history. Yield Giving has prioritized organizations working on issues ranging from DEI to disaster recovery.
Prior to her large-scale philanthropic endeavors, Scott established herself as an author. Her debut novel, The Testing of Luther Albright, published in 2005, won an American Book Award in 2006. Her second novel, Traps, was released in 2013. She as well founded Bystander Revolution, an anti-bullying organization, in 2014, and continues to serve as its executive director.
Since 2020, Scott has reduced her Amazon holdings by 42 percent, selling or donating approximately 58 million shares. Despite this substantial divestment, she retains a significant fortune, estimated at nearly $28 billion.
