MacKenzie Scott, one of the world’s most prominent philanthropists, has just donated $70 million to UNCF, the nation’s largest private provider of scholarships to Black students.
The donation by Scott, whose net worth is currently valued to be around $34 billion, is set to reshape the financial future of 37 historically HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities), as part of a $1 billion campaign.
The program, launched in 2o21, aims to help HBCUs close a funding gap compared to white or elite institutions, aiming to provide long-term financial stability and a permanent revenue stream for minority schools.
The gift is one of Scott’s largest single donations ever, as per the Associated Press. Over the past 5 years, she’s given away $19 billion in gifts to more than 2,000 nonprofits.
Mackenzie Scott is dedicated to giving her billions away
Scott’s no stranger to philanthropy. Having obtained most of her wealth after divorcing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the gifts she makes are often large, unrestricted, and don’t have a specified timeframe in which they need to be spent.
The billionaire has donated to diverse causes, ranging from a $84 million gift to Girl Scouts, $20 million to Vermont’s Champlain Housing Trust, $436 million to Habitat for Humanity, and $275 million to Planned Parenthood. She also previously gave UNCF $10 million in 2020. The median gift size of the thousands of donations she’s made since her 2019 divorce is roughly $5 million.
Scott is so dedicated to donating her wealth that she signed a pledge with Warren Buffet to do so. When signing The Giving Pledge in 2020—a philanthropic initiative founded in 2010 by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett—she promised to give away at least half of her wealth.
Her donations have so far outpaced many of her peers. With an estimated net worth of $109.4 billion, Michael Bloomberg who also signed The Giving Pledge, has reportedly donated $14.4 billion over his lifetime.
Though Bill Gates has given away over $100 billion over several decades and remains wealthier overall, Scott has emerged as one of the fastest large-scale donors in modern history.
Comparatively, Forbes previously has reported in 2022 that Bezos donated more than $2.4 billion to philanthropy in his lifetime (which does not include pledges of future support). However, CNN reported in 2022 Bezos still has said he plans to give away the majority of his $124 billion net worth. Still, unlike Scott, he has faced criticism over not joining the Giving Pledge.
