The Trevor Project, known for its hotline for LGBTQ+ youth, received $45 million from billionaire MacKenzie Scott at the end of 2025, the organization said Monday. The gift is the largest in the organization's history but also a major boon following years of management turmoil, layoffs, and the loss of significant federal funding over the summer, reports the AP. "I literally could not believe it and it took some time. I actually gasped," said Jaymes Black, CEO of the Trevor Project. Scott gave more than $7 billion to nonprofits in 2025, but this gift to the Trevor Project was not included among the donations she disclosed on her website in December. Scott previously gave the Trevor Project $6 million in 2020.
In July, the Trump administration stopped providing specific support for gay, trans, and gender nonconforming young people who called the 988 National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The Trevor Project was one of the organizations staffing that option and lost $25 million in funding, the nonprofit said. The Trevor Project continues to run an independent hotline for LGBTQ+ young people that Black said reaches about 250,000 young people annually, but they served another 250,000 callers through the 988 Press 3 option, which was tailored for LGBTQ+ young people.
The Trevor Project has gone through years of internal turmoil after exploding in size from an organization with an annual budget around $4 million in 2016 to over $83 million in 2023, according to its public tax returns. The nonprofit's board removed its CEO in 2022 and has gone through a series of layoffs, including in July. Black said the project's 2026 budget was $47 million. "We are a smaller organization than we were before," Black said. "And we will continue to be really intentional and really mindful around growth."
After it lost the 988 funding, the Trevor Project launched an emergency fundraiser that brought in $20 million to date, Black said, which they also hope Scott saw as proof that the organization was determined to stick around. "MacKenzie Scott's folks were clear, like this gift was made for long-term impact," Black said, adding that they would take their time deciding how to use the funds. Black called Scott's second gift "a powerful validation" of the Trevor Project's mission and impact, saying, "We're calling this our turnaround story."
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