Between You and Me

Billionaire MacKenzie Scott’s Valentine to the World.

Love Comes in Many Ways…

Valentine’s Day is all about loving and giving and do I have a love story for you! Last year MacKenzie Scott gave away $7.2 billion to those who had been forgotten and left behind, bringing her gift-giving total to $26 billion.

The world is chaotic at this time and it’s an especially difficult time for refugees, the downtrodden, and the outsiders. Along comes a savior, to restore some decency, some humanity to the tumultuous events. MacKenzie Scott conquers not with a sword, but with a love ballad, a valentine of caring for the most marginalized and the abused.

After divorcing the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, she not only discarded the marital name Bezos,  but also embraced her own middle name Scott, and a whole new persona. She does not like the grand-sounding title of ‘philanthropist’, preferring the more low-key and simpler word ‘giver’.

According to Forbes, Mackenzie Scott was the nation’s top philanthropist in 2025 and ranks third behind Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates in terms of lifetime giving.

As The New York Times noted, ‘Ms. Scott has come to embody a new brand of philanthropy. She has made large gifts to nonprofits that were distinguished not just by their dollar value but by the fact that she gave without dictating how the money should be spent.

When, in 2019, she committed to giving away at least half of her wealth as part of the Giving Pledge, Ms. Scott said, “I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.”’

Scott has already given away more than half her wealth of $ 40 billion. You will not see flashy PR announcements, photo opps or glittering galas promoting her philanthropy. You will not see her interviews or profiles in the media.

The site of Yield Giving is simple enough with no images or copious text. It quietly states: Established by Mackenzie Scott to share a financial fortune created through the effort of countless people, Yield is named after a belief in adding value by giving up control.”

What is heartwarming to see is where all this money is going: small grassroots organizations which are always strapped for cash and addressing issues of migration and immigration, of housing and the homeless, hope for the incarcerated, education in underserved areas, ageing, race and gender bias and all the inequities of our civilized world.

Many of these ideas have been brewing in her head since college. Scott graduated from Princeton where the iconic Toni Morrison was her teacher.  She went on to write two novels, and several essays that she had written are on the Yield Giving site.

One particular quote from a book Scott had read had a special impact on her:

“I found it this morning on a shelf of my books from college, toward the end of Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life. It was underlined and starred like all of the words that have inspired me most over the years, words that felt true in context, and also true in life:

“Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book… The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better… Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.”

Of course, not all of us have billions to give, but Scott tells us to give what we can – love, compassion and kindness to whoever needs it.

As she says, “I have no doubt that tremendous value comes when people act quickly on the impulse to give. No drive has more positive ripple effects than the desire to be of service. There are lots of resources each of us can pull from our safes to share with others — time, attention, knowledge, patience, creativity, talent, effort, humor, compassion.

 And sure enough, something greater rises up every time we give: the easy breathing of a friend we sit with when we had other plans, the relief on our child’s face when we share the story of our own mistake, laughter at the well-timed joke we tell to someone who is crying, the excitement of the kids in the school we send books to, the safety of the families who sleep in the shelters we fund. These immediate results are only the beginning. Their value keeps multiplying and spreading in ways we may never know.”

Seeding by Ceding is a deep dive into how Scott helps distribute the wealth, through deep thinking, consensus and collaboration https://yieldgiving.com/essays/seeding-by-ceding

Valentine’s Day is not just for significant others or spouses. It is a love letter to children, parents, extended families, teachers, friends, neighbors, even strangers who are all part of our universal family.

And so, this Valentine’s Day, not only do the ones in need get help and care from MacKenzie Scott, but we all get a lesson in living from her too, on how to deal with the ups and downs of life with spunk and hope, and a blueprint for creating a better world.

What better parting wisdom to take away from Scott than her favorite from Rumi:

“A candle as it diminishes explains,

Gathering more and more is not the way.

Burn, become light and heat and help. Melt.”