MacKenzie Scott Faces Scrutiny Over Grants to Network Backing Controversial Pro-Palestinian Groups

MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has given at least $5 million to Solidaire Network, a left-leaning donor collective that has financially supported several controversial pro-Palestinian organizations now under congressional scrutiny in the United States, the Washington Free Beacon reported. The funds, disclosed in late 2025 as part of Scott’s latest round of unrestricted philanthropy through her vehicle Yield Giving, form part of a wider giving strategy that allows recipient networks broad discretion over how to allocate the money. The donations have drawn attention because U.S. lawmakers and researchers accuse some Solidarity-backed groups of ties to or alignment with Hamas-linked entities, allegations that those groups deny or contest in other forums.​

Philanthropy Meets Political Controversy

In an article published by the Washington Free Beacon, reporters said Scott directed at least $5 million to Solidaire Network in her latest giving round, on top of a $10 million unrestricted grant she made to the group in 2021 through Yield Giving. Solidaire describes itself as a funder of “front lines of social justice movements” and has used Scott’s earlier 2021 gift to finance a “Unity & Power” campaign that, according to Women’s Foundation California, channels funds to Palestinian- and Arab-led organizing focused on antiwar activism and “Palestinian freedom.” Public filings and grant databases cited by the Free Beacon show Solidaire and its fiscal sponsors disbursing funds to several U.S.-based pro-Palestinian organizations, including the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network.​

“In FY 2023–2024, US-based Solidaire Network granted $75,000 to PYM via WESPAC Foundation,” the watchdog group NGO Monitor reported in an analysis of PYM’s funding.​

Groups Under Investigation and Public Backlash

Several of the organizations supported by Solidaire are currently the focus of congressional inquiries. According to the Washington Free Beacon, both SJP and AMP face investigations in the House and Senate into allegations they coordinated with Hamas to support or help organize anti-Israel protests in the United States. These allegations have not been tested in court. The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) has separately claimed that “over $3 million a year” flows to National Students for Justice in Palestine through nonprofits with alleged Hamas-linked backgrounds, including WESPAC Foundation and AMP. However, pro-Palestinian advocates contest the report’s conclusions.​

The Free Beacon reported that PYM received $75,000 from Solidaire between June 2023 and June 2024 via WESPAC Foundation and highlighted a 2024 protest stunt in which activists released maggots into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hotel during a U.S. visit. The article also noted that the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, which received $50,000 routed through Solidaire, publicly described Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel as “justified” and part of a “self-defense operation,” language that drew sharp criticism from Jewish organizations and many U.S. officials after the killing of roughly 1,200 Israelis and the taking of civilian hostages in that assault, as widely reported by international media and Israeli authorities.​

How Solidaire and Fiscal Sponsors Channel Funds

Solidaire often relies on fiscal sponsors such as WESPAC Foundation and Tides Foundation to distribute grants. This typical U.S. nonprofit structure allows projects without their own tax-exempt status to receive tax-deductible donations through an intermediary. Cause IQ, which compiles nonprofit financial data, lists a June 2024 grant of $75,000 from Solidaire Network to WESPAC Foundation for “general support for Palestinian Youth Movement,” consistent with NGO Monitor’s account and the Free Beacon’s reporting.​

Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, have pressed federal agencies to investigate WESPAC, Tides, and related entities over their role in funding groups accused of ties to Hamas or of leading protests that some critics characterize as antisemitic, the Free Beacon reported. Cotton previously urged the FBI to examine the “virulently antisemitic” Palestinian Youth Movement after one of its leaders called for sabotage of the U.S. F-35 supply chain, according to the same report.​

Scott’s Philanthropic Model and Scale of Giving

Scott has become one of the world’s most prominent philanthropists since her 2019 divorce, pledging to give away the majority of the estimated tens of billions of dollars in Amazon stock she received in the settlement. Yield Giving, which manages her donations, states that it seeks to “share a financial fortune created through the effort of countless people” and favors large, largely unrestricted grants that recipient organizations can “use however they choose,” an approach documented by analysts at Harvard Business School and philanthropy researchers.​

By late 2023, Scott had publicly disclosed more than $16 billion in donations to thousands of nonprofits, and subsequent announcements have pushed that total above $19 billion, according to research by Panorama Global and other philanthropy trackers. In one 2024 open call alone, Yield Giving awarded $640 million to 361 small and mid-sized organizations, with most receiving between $1 million and $2 million each, Panorama Global reported. The Washington Free Beacon noted that Scott has donated roughly $26 billion through Yield Giving since 2019, though the exact current total can vary depending on market conditions and disclosure lags.​

Reactions and Questions Over Transparency

Neither Yield Giving nor Solidaire Network responded to the Free Beacon’s questions about the precise size of Scott’s latest grant to Solidaire or how the network allocated the funds, and Yield Giving’s database marks the disclosure amount as “delayed for benefit of recipient”. Solidaire described Scott’s earlier $10 million grant in 2021 as an “unrestricted, not time-bound gift” that, in its words, “emboldens us to keep working towards realizing our Theory of Liberation,” according to statements cited by the Free Beacon and Solidaire’s own materials.​

Supporters of Scott’s model, including nonprofit leaders interviewed by Fortune and philanthropy outlets, argue that her trust-based giving has allowed organizations to expand services rapidly and strengthen long-term capacity. At the same time, critics say the lack of earmarking and limited public detail on some grants can make it difficult to track how funds flow through complex networks that may touch highly polarized political causes. As investigations into pro-Palestinian advocacy groups continue in Congress and scrutiny of donor networks intensifies, Scott’s partnership with Solidaire is likely to remain a focal point in broader debates over philanthropy, transparency, and the boundaries between charitable giving and political activism in the United States.