The Trevor Project received $45 million to aid “long-term sustainability”
BY SCARLETT CLARKE, IMAGE BY PEXELS
Author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, has donated $45m to one of the world’s largest LGBTQIA+ youth suicide prevention charities.
The donation is the largest single-sum gift in the 28-year history of The Trevor Project, a US-based organisation providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQIA+ young people.
Confirming receipt of the donation on Monday (12 January), the charity’s CEO, Jaymes Black, said they were “honoured” and described the money as “transformational”, adding that it would “strengthen [their] ability to plan for long-term sustainability.”
This donation comes at a time when the mental health of LGBTQIA+ young people in the United States is in “crisis”, according to a report published by The Trevor Project in October, which highlighted that conditions are worsening over time.
Every year, an estimated 1.8 million LGBTQIA+ young people in the US seriously consider suicide. Globally, this figure rises to 40 million people.
Jaymes argued that although these findings were sobering, they were unsurprising. They said LGBTQIA + young people in the US “continue to face elevated levels of stigma and political rhetoric, which take a serious toll on their mental health and well-being”.
The donation follows the US administration’s decision to shut down the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline service for LGBTQIA+ youth in June 2025. The Trevor Project, which was heavily involved in the service, described the closure as “devastating” and continues to call for its reinstatement.
MacKenzie’s $45m donation will go some way to rectifying the damage caused by the closure, with the charity labelling it a “powerful step” toward protecting vulnerable young people.
Although spending plans have yet to be finalised, the charity is committed to making a “strategic and thoughtful investment plan focused on strengthening [their] core crisis services”.
This is not the first time MacKenzie has donated to The Trevor Project. Jaymes noted that the charity previously received a $6 million donation from her in 2020, adding that the organisation remains “grateful for the continued trust this new gift represents”.
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