MacKenzie Scott Has Given Over $1 Billion To HBCU’s
MacKenzie Scott has completely changed how people think about funding for historically Black colleges and universities. Her total donations to HBCUs now range between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion. This isn’t just a one-time gesture but a deliberate choice to support schools that have been financially overlooked for a long time.
After her divorce from Jeff Bezos in 2019, Scott signed the Giving Pledge and promised to give away most of her wealth. Since then, she has donated more than $26 billion in total. Most of that money goes toward racial equity and education.
Her work with HBCUs really took off in 2020 when she gave $560 million to 23 different schools. She kept that momentum going into 2025 by giving another $700 million to more than a dozen HBCUs and groups like the United Negro College Fund.
The amounts she gives to individual schools are huge. For example, Howard University received $80 million, which is one of the biggest gifts in its history.
The most unique thing about her approach is that her donations come with no strings attached. The schools get to decide exactly how to use the money, whether that means funding scholarships, fixing up buildings, hiring faculty, or paying down debt. Many university leaders call these gifts transformational because they provide a level of financial stability these schools rarely see.
This level of investment is especially important because of the history behind it. For decades, HBCUs have received only a small fraction of the donations that white institutions get. Scott is finally helping to close that long-standing gap.
