MacKenzie Scott Gives Active Minds $20 Million, Its Largest Gift Ever

MacKenzie Scott donated $20 million to Active Minds. The gift is the largest in the organization's history and carries no restrictions on its use. Active Minds will apply the funds to a multi-year plan that scales national infrastructure, builds community, energizes young leadership, funds youth-led solutions, and translates youth voices into system change.

The organization will direct resources to its Mental Health Advocacy Academy for high schoolers and its Mental Health Advocacy Institute for college students. Alison Malmon, founder and executive director of Active Minds, said the donation validates young people as primary drivers of change in mental health.

She added that unrestricted support gives flexibility to address needs where they are greatest while building long-term capacity.

Scott previously gave $4 million to Active Minds in 2021. The new contribution arrives as federal data show elevated mental health challenges among U.S. adolescents. The 2023 CDC data indicate that one-fifth of American high schoolers have seriously considered attempting suicide and 16 percent have created a suicide plan.

The same year, 20 percent of adolescents aged 12-17 reported anxiety symptoms in the prior two weeks and 18 percent reported symptoms of depression. A 2025 study found that the share of young people experiencing severe anxiety rose 86 percent since the mid-1990s, while the share experiencing severe depression rose 145 percent.

Researchers at Harvard University and Baylor University reported that adults aged 18-29 are, on average, deeply unhappy.

Malmon stated that the gift helps navigate an uncertain philanthropic landscape but that lasting progress requires sustained cross-sector investment. Scott has given $26 billion since 2020 through her foundation Yield Giving, including $7.2 billion in 2025.