MacKenzie Scott donates $70M to UNCF to bolster HBCUs
Billionaire philanthropist Mackenzie Scott on Tuesday donated $70 million to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), the largest private supplier of scholarships to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
The gift is one of Scott’s largest single donations ever and among the first to be publicly disclosed in 2025, according to The Associated Press. It follows her $10 million donation to the organization in 2020.
“This extraordinary gift is a powerful vote of confidence in HBCUs and in the work of UNCF,” Michael L. Lomax, the nonprofit’s president and CEO told the AP in a statement.
“It provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our member institutions to build permanent assets that will support students and campuses for decades to come,” he added.
UNCF supports students’ academic ventures at 37 of the 107 HBCUs across the country. Member schools include Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Spelman College, which faced campus threats earlier this month after the killing of late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The funding boost also comes after the Trump administration announced that it would strip $350 million in funding for minority serving institutions. Though, the White House announced earlier this month that nearly $500 million in federal funds would be redirected to HBCUs and tribally controlled colleges and universities (TCCUs).
Scott’s donation to UNCF, will go toward a $370 million fund under their pooled endowment.
Each HBCU member school is set to receive $10 million from the financial lump sum paid out at approximately 4 percent annually, AP reported.
HBCUs have received large donations from Scott in recent years as she’s supported individual institutions and programs dedicated to funding their success in recent years. She’s given over $52 million to Howard University alone, in addition to $30 million to Hampton University marking the largest donations in both school’s history.
In 2020, Scott said the effort was in part driven by the apparent divides in society after large protests over racism and police brutality emerged after the death of George Floyd.
“Like many, I watched the first half of 2020 with a mixture of heartbreak and horror. Life will never stop finding fresh ways to expose inequities in our systems; or waking us up to the fact that a civilization this imbalanced is not only unjust, but also unstable,” Scott wrote in an essay in July 2020.
“What fills me with hope is the thought of what will come if each of us reflects on what we can offer,” she added. “Opportunities that flowed from the mere chance of skin color, sexual orientation, gender, or zip code may have yielded resources that can be powerful levers for change.”
The philanthropist continued, “People troubled by recent events can make new connections between privileges they’ve enjoyed and benefits they’ve taken for granted. From there, many will choose to share some of what they have with people whose equal participation is essential to the construction of a better world.”
She announced that in 2020, $586 million of her wealth was contributed to racial equity and $399 million supported economic mobility, while noting that 91 percent of the racial equity organizations are run by leaders of color.
Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, signed the Giving Pledge in 2019, and has ventured to donate more than half of her wealth.
Recipients of her funds have responded with an outpour of appreciation.
“We are deeply grateful for MacKenzie Scott’s continued support,” Lomax said Tuesday.
“By entrusting UNCF to decide how best to use these funds, she affirms that HBCUs merit investment at this scale and her generosity will strengthen our member institutions and provide pathways to success for tomorrow’s changemakers,” he added.