Near the end of 2025, The Trevor Project, widely recognized for operating a crisis hotline serving LGBTQ+ young people, received a $45 million donation from billionaire author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. The organization described the contribution as the largest in its history, and the timing mattered, coming after years marked by leadership disruption, staff reductions, and a painful shift in public funding.
Jaymes Black, The Trevor Project’s CEO, recalled being stunned by the news. They said the moment didn’t feel immediately real, describing a visceral reaction that underscored how unexpected the call was after so many difficult months.
Scott’s wealth is closely associated with her former marriage to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, but her philanthropic identity has increasingly stood on its own. In 2020, she had already supported The Trevor Project with $6 million, making the 2025 gift a second major show of confidence in the organization’s mission.
The federal funding shift and what it changed
In July, the Trump administration ended the specific support channel for gay, transgender, and gender-nonconforming young people who contacted the 988 National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The Trevor Project had been among the organizations staffing that tailored option and said the change meant losing $25 million in funding.
Even after that decision, The Trevor Project continued running its independent hotline for LGBTQ+ young people, and Black said it reaches about 250,000 youth each year. They also said the organization had served another 250,000 people through the 988 “Press 3” pathway, which had been designed specifically for LGBTQ+ young people.
Advocates watching the crisis-support ecosystem argue that this kind of identity-aware care is not easily replaced. Scott Bertani, advocacy director at the National Coalition for LGBTQ Health, said The Trevor Project’s services meet needs that generic crisis lines are not built to address, especially for youth experiencing isolation, rejection, or identity-based stress.
A turnaround story amid growth pains
Behind the hotline’s public-facing mission, the organization has also been navigating the strain that can come with rapid expansion. According to public tax filings cited in reporting, its budget grew from roughly $4 million in 2016 to more than $83 million in 2023, and the group faced internal turmoil as it scaled.
The Trevor Project’s board removed its CEO in 2022, and the organization went through multiple rounds of layoffs, including in July. Black said the organization’s 2026 budget is $47 million, adding that it is smaller than it once was and intends to be deliberate about what growth should look like going forward.
After losing the 988 funding stream, the nonprofit launched an emergency fundraising effort that has brought in $20 million to date, Black said, and they hoped Scott’s team saw that response as evidence the organization could survive the moment. Black also said Scott’s representatives emphasized the donation was meant for long-term impact, and that the organization planned to take time to decide how best to deploy the funds.
