Trevor Project receives $45M donation from MacKenzie Scott. WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KESQ) - The Trevor Project, a West Hollywood nonprofit known for its hotline for LGBTQ+ youth, has received a $45 million donation from philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott after the Trump administration cut its funding, it was announced today. The organization's national suicide-prevention hotline has been accessible by dialing 988 since 2022. The following year, an option was added to the hotline to provide specialized counseling to LGBTQ+ youth, who could press the number 3 on their phones to access the service. The service had been provided locally by The Trevor Project. In July, however, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration eliminated funding for the "Press 3" option for LGBTQ+ youth. Shortly afterward, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors directed its Department of Mental Health to develop a pilot program restoring services tailored for LGBTQ+ youth to the suicide-prevention hotline. On Monday, The Trevor Project announced that Scott had made the donation at the end of 2025 in support of the organization's long-term efforts for LGBTQ+ youth. Jaymes Black, chief executive of The Trevor Project, said in a blog post that Scott's gift - the single largest one-time donation in the organization's 27-year history - comes at "a pivotal moment for our organization and the LGBTQ+ young people we serve." Black said the gift "is a powerful step toward building on our sustainable capacity - but our organization will continue to face one of the largest public health crises of our time: LGBTQ+ youth suicide." Research shows that LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers, Black said. "The Trevor Project's latest study found that, sadly, the mental health crisis among LGBTQ+ youth in the U.S. is getting worse, showing increasing rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidality for these young people over time." Black said the organization received a $6 million gift from Scott in 2020. "We are committed to investing this funding with great care," Black said. "Over the coming months, we will roadmap a strategic and thoughtful investment plan focused on strengthening our core crisis services, improving long-term sustainability, and accelerating our progress toward a world where every LGBTQ+ young person knows they are loved and supported." Scott, 55, was married to Jeff Bezos, the co-founder of Amazon, from 1993 to 2019. In 2006, Scott won an American Book Award for her debut novel, "The Testing of Luther Albright." Her second novel, "Traps," was published in 2013.

The Trevor Project receives $45M from MacKenzie Scott after difficult years and federal funding cuts. Scott previously gave The Trevor Project $6 million in 2020. This latest gift is a major boon following years of management turmoil, layoffs and the loss of significant federal funding over the summer. The Trevor Project, known for its hotline for LGBTQ+ youth, received $45 million from billionaire and author 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. "I literally could not believe it and it took some time. I actually gasped," said Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, when they were notified of Scott's gift. Scott, whose fortune largely comes from her ex-husband Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, 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. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported more than 1.5 million contacts were routed through the service between Sept. 2022 and July 2025. 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 and what growth really means for the organization." 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 and make it through this period. "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. Thad Calabrese, a professor at New York University who researches nonprofit financial management, said it's not at all uncommon for nonprofits that grow very quickly to run into financial problems. But he also said the cuts and general instability in especially federal funding for nonprofits has upended many organizations' business models. "Academic research has often viewed public funding as very stable, as a signal to donors that you've arrived as an organization, but the reality is you are now also open to changing political fortunes," he said. He said research is also unclear whether diversifying an organization's revenue streams is always a better financial strategy. "You're less dependent upon a few funders, but on the other hand, if you have a lot of different revenue streams, do you have the management capacity for that?" Calabrese asked, speaking generally and not commenting specifically on The Trevor Project. Scott has distinguished herself among the biggest individual donors by giving large, unrestricted gifts to nonprofits, often with a focus on equity or social justice. With the exception of an open call in 2023, she does not ask for project proposals nor accept applications. Despite the size of her gifts, which now often exceed the recipient organization's annual budget, research from the Center for Effective Philanthropy has found that concerns about nonprofits misusing Scott's funds or growing unsustainably have largely not been born out. That may be because Scott's team, the members of which are largely unknown, conducts extensive research on organizations before making grants. In an essay announcing her 2025 gifts, Scott said, "The potential of peaceful, non-transactional contribution has long been underestimated, often on the basis that it is not financially self-sustaining, or that some of its benefits are hard to track. But what if these imagined liabilities are actually assets? ... What if the fact that some of our organizations are vulnerable can itself be a powerful engine for our generosity?" 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." Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. 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Trevor Project names Kevin Wong as first chief communications officer. Wong joined the LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention organization in 2018. NEW YORK: The Trevor Project has promoted Kevin Wong to chief communications officer, a newly created role for the LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention organization. In his new title, effective January 1, Wong will continue to oversee the LGBTQ+ organization's communications team, including organizational storytelling, media relations, executive comms, brand positioning, internal comms and celebrity and influencer engagement, the nonprofit said in a statement. He'll also maintain his role on The Trevor Project's executive team. Wong, a member of PRWeek's 40 Under 40 class of 2024 and Pride in PR list, will continue to report to CEO Jaymes Black in this role, overseeing a communications team of five. Kevin Wong at PRWeek's 40 Under 40 awards ceremony. Credit: Erica Berger. Wong steps into the CCO role following a challenging year for The Trevor Project, positioning the organization to counter the rising political and cultural pressures facing LGBTQ+ youth. Ahead of Pride in June, the nonprofit navigated changing sentiment from brands around showing up at Pride marches and celebrations. The following month, the Trump administration terminated its 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline's LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services, directly impacting approximately $20 million in federal funding for the Trevor Project intended for LGBTQ+ youth support. Ahead of the policy change, Wong and his team implemented a rapid response plan to prepare for the imminent loss of funding and the effects the change would have, not only on the people the organization supports, but also its employees. A majority of The Trevor Project's remote staff identify as LGBTQ+, according to Wong. "Last year, the loss of federal funding made it so clear to us that we as an organization, and probably a lot of organizations, need to do more storytelling, not less," Wong said of the purpose behind the creation of the CCO role. "This structure equips us to do more storytelling with even more focus on different audiences." As a result of the changes under the new administration, as well as the growing attention its impact has brought to the nonprofit, Wong's new role will be increasingly focused on internal comms and engagement with influencers and celebrities who have taken an interest in the nonprofit's mission. Over the past six months, the communications team mobilized over 100 celebrities across the entertainment industry to support LGBTQ+ young people - including Ariana Grande and Pedro Pascal - and honored Megan Thee Stallion as Mental Health Champion of the Year. Wong explained that, under the new structure, marketing and content will continue to be managed by senior director of marketing and content Nolan Scott. When Wong joined The Trevor Project in 2018, he became the first person to set the nonprofit's comms vision, building out the strategy, media spokesperson training program and team, to eventually include a more formalized marketing and creative teams. Now, the marketing and content teams will work hand in hand with Wong and his communications staff, overseeing storytelling across the Trevor Project's owned platforms, including marketing channels, with a focus on youth audiences and supportive adults. The Trevor Project does not currently work with an agency for PR support, according to Wong. Heading into 2026, Wong said he and his team are looking to double down on strategic comms and continue to show up in places and through recognitions that aren't common for nonprofits to be featured, such as the mainstage at SXSW and in discussions at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He also intends to invest more deeply in internal comms as a "strategic, human-centered function" and strengthen the trust of connections with LGBTQ+ young people through collaborations with talent and creators that are part of their everyday lives. As The Trevor Project maintains its growing presence, Wong said he hopes to show up for new audiences in need of the nonprofit's resources. He noted that suicide and LGBTQ+ youth exist in all parts of the country. "I'm hoping that we can reach more corners of the country by leaning further into some of the beats that we've grown awareness in, so health and science, B2B marketing communications beats and, at the same time, strengthening our connection to LGBTQ+ young people and exploring what it means to link the positive impacts of exercise and fitness to mental health," he said. Prior to taking on his role as SVP of communications, marketing and content in 2023, Wong served as VP of communications and head of communications at The Trevor Project. Earlier in his career, he held stints at iHeartMedia where he worked as manager of marketing and communications and at Six Flags Great Adventure as a PR coordinator and supervisor. The Trevor Project, founded in 1998, provides 24/7 crisis support services, research and advocacy for LGBTQ+ young people.