MacKenzie Scott’s HBCU Donations: Here’s A Full List!

mackenzie-scott-hbcu-donations — Source: Dia Dipasupil / Getty

MacKenzie Scott first came into public view as the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, but her story is much more than that. Raised in San Francisco, she studied at Princeton, where she worked as a research assistant for Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. She later became a novelist, publishing two books, The Testing of Luther Albright and Traps. Her marriage to Bezos lasted 25 years, and when they divorced in 2019, she received a significant portion of Amazon stock, catapulting her into billionaire status.

Scott’s rise to financial prominence came almost entirely through that divorce settlement, which included roughly 4 percent of Amazon. Since then, she’s been known not just for her wealth, but for her distinctive philanthropic approach. Scott gives large, unrestricted gifts, trusting recipients to decide how best to use the money. In 2019, she signed the Giving Pledge, committing to give away the majority of her fortune. Through her Yield Giving platform, she has donated billions to over 2,000 nonprofits.

One of MacKenzie Scott’s defining charitable focuses has been on historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In recent years, she has made a series of unprecedented donations, often unrestricted and record-setting. Her strategy aims to address long-standing disparities in funding and institutional capacity at these schools, giving them resources to invest in their students, faculty, facilities,and long-term planning.

Here’s a list of the HBCUs MacKenzie Scott has donated to, with the reported amounts:

Alabama State University – $38M – 2025
Alcorn State University – $42M – 2025 (plus an earlier gift in 2020)
Bowie State University – $50M – (plus $25M in 2020)
Claflin University – $20M – 2020
Clark Atlanta University – $38M – 2025 (plus $15M in 2020)
Delaware State University – $20M – 2020
Dillard University – $5M – 2020
Elizabeth City State University – $15M – 2020
Hampton University – $30M – 2020
Howard University – $80M – 2025 (plus $40M in 2020)
Lincoln University (PA) – $20M – 2020
Morehouse College – $20M – 2020
Morgan State University – $63M – 2025 (plus $40M in 2020)
Norfolk State University – $40M – 2025 (plus $40M in 2020)

North Carolina A&T State University – $45M – 2025 (plus $45M in 2020) Note: Some sources report $63M in a more recent gift.
Prairie View A&M University – $63M – 2025 (plus $50M in 2020)
Spelman College – $38M – 2025 (plus $20M in 2020)
Tougaloo College – $6M – 2020
Tuskegee University – $20M – 2020
University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) – $38M – 2025
Virginia State University – $50M – 2025
Voorhees University – $19M – 2025 (plus $4M in 2020)
Winston-Salem State University – $50M – 2025 (plus $30M in 2020)
Xavier University of Louisiana – $20M – 2020

Additionally, the 55-year-old gave $70M to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) in 2025, which will be used to bolster a pooled endowment benefitting 37 of its member HBCUs.

The significance of MacKenzie Scott’s donations cannot be overstated. By giving unrestricted funds on such a massive scale, she empowers HBCUs to decide for themselves how to address their most urgent needs, whether that’s strengthening endowments, offering more scholarships, renovating campus facilities, or expanding research initiatives. This flexibility is especially powerful because many of these institutions have been under-resourced for decades. Her gifts are not just generous; they reshape what philanthropy in Black higher education can look like. She’s building lasting capacity and stability in schools that play a critical role in educating future generations. Shoutout to MacKenzie Scott!