Panorama Global Releases Fifth Annual Analysis of MacKenzie Scott’s Giving

December 2025 grants reveal larger, more concentrated investments, increased repeat funding, and an expanded global footprint

SEATTLE – Panorama Global today released Understanding MacKenzie Scott’s December 2025 Philanthropic Giving. This marks Panorama’s fifth annual analysis of MacKenzie Scott’s giving, continuing a multi-year effort to track and interpret how large-scale, unrestricted philanthropy is reshaping norms across the social sector.

The new analysis examines MacKenzie Scott’s December 2025 round of philanthropic giving, which totaled $7.17 billion awarded through 186 unrestricted grants. While fewer organizations were funded than in previous years, the round represents Scott’s largest single tranche of giving to date, underscoring a clear strategic throughline: fewer gifts, much larger amounts, and a growing emphasis on sustained, repeat funding. And while U.S.-based organizations continue to receive the majority of grants, there was a clear expansion in globally focused giving.

“MacKenzie Scott’s 2025 giving reflects a maturing philanthropic strategy that prioritizes durability over diffusion,” said Gabrielle Fitzgerald, CEO of Panorama Global. “At a time when public funding for global health, climate, and social justice is under extraordinary pressure, this approach highlights the role that large-scale, unrestricted, and repeat capital can play in sustaining organizations through volatility.”

Key findings from the analysis include:

• The largest giving year to date: Scott gave $7.17 billion in 2025, the highest annual total since she began large-scale philanthropy in 2019.
  
• Significantly larger grants: The average grant size reached $38.5 million, the largest average Panorama has observed across all giving rounds.
  
• A sharp increase in repeat funding: 65% of December 2025 grants went to organizations Scott had previously funded, up from just 18% in the December 2024 round.
  
• Repeat gifts grow substantially in size: On average, second-time grants were more than three times larger than initial awards, with third- and fourth-time grants increasing even further.
  
• New thematic priorities emerge: For the first time in six years, Scott’s top thematic focus areas shifted. Funding & Regranting and Environment joined Education and Equity & Justice as leading priorities. Additionally, we observe greater use of intermediary funds and systems-level approaches to social change.
  
• A more globally oriented portfolio: 43% of organizations funded in December 2025 had a global or international focus, compared with just 18% of Scott’s cumulative grants from 2019–2024 – a notable expansion at a moment of widespread contraction in international aid and humanitarian funding.

Panorama’s analysis draws on self-reported data from the Yield Giving website covering all 2,700 grants Scott has announced since 2019, with particular attention to trends in scale, concentration, thematic focus, geography, and repeat funding over time.

“This analysis matters beyond a single donor,” Fitzgerald added. “Looking across five years of data, we see a model of philanthropy that pairs scale with trust and continuity – an approach that has important implications for how funders respond to overlapping global crises, from climate disruption to gender inequities.”