Meals on Wheels America was stunned when it received a $70 million donation from MacKenzie Scott earlier this year. The gift announced last week is considered the largest in the organization’s history. Known for her unconventional approach to philanthropy, Scott does not accept grant applications; Instead, she conducts quiet research to select recipients, making her gifts unexpected and transformative.
“We were not prepared for this gift at all,” Jenny Young, the organization’s chief membership officer and chief of staff, told the Observer. “It definitely came as a surprise.”
Scott’s donation, given in January and revealed by Meals on Wheels earlier this month, comes at a time of growing need. The nonprofit supports more than 5,000 community programs across the United States, many of which are struggling to keep up with growing demand from seniors.
Among participating providers, one in three currently have a waiting list. Some seniors wait up to four months to eat meals. “This comes at an incredible time. There is such a need,” Young said.
This isn’t Scott’s first gift to Meals on Wheels; Contributed $5 million to the organization in 2020. In the amount of Her net worth is estimated at $31.7 billion— largely tied to her Amazon stake from her previous marriage to Jeff Bezos — Scott pledged in 2019 to give away most of her fortune.
Since then, it has donated more than $26 billion, including $7.2 billion in 2025 alone. Its recent gifts include $42 million to Elizabeth City State University, a historically black college/university in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and $7 million to Red Lake Nation College, a tribal college in Red Lake, Minnesota.
Meals on Wheels plans to use Scott’s $70 million through a “phased approach,” focusing on improving infrastructure and technology, according to Young. This method “will ensure we maximize the full potential of the gift, rather than distributing funds all at once.”
The support arrives as the organization faces ever-widening funding gaps. Federal aid has remained flat since 2024, forcing programs to serve fewer seniors as costs rise. “Every year the funding stays flat, it serves fewer meals and serves fewer seniors because of rising costs,” Young said.
The challenge is exacerbated by the growing number of elderly people. Fourteen million older Americans now worry about getting enough to eat, according to a Meals on Wheels analysis of Census data. At the same time, institutional giving has not kept up with the pace: just 1% of nonprofit funds in the United States go to seniorsaccording to Candide.
Young noted that older generations have been overlooked by philanthropy, partly because many of them live at home. She said that America “does not look at the elderly and the elderly on the same level as other cultures.”
With Scott’s historic donation, that may begin to change. “We hope this gift will be an incentive for others to see the value of the work we do,” she added.
