MacKenzie Scott has been on a giving streak this fall, and two more historically Black colleges and universities announced in the past few days major donations from the billionaire philanthropist.
TL;DR
- MacKenzie Scott donated $50 million to Winston-Salem State University, a record gift for the institution.
- Scott also gave $80 million to Howard University and $19 million to Voorhees University.
- Her donations this fall include $70 million to UNCF and $40 million to the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.
- Scott's unrestricted gifts support DEI, education, and disaster recovery efforts, totaling over $19 billion given.
On Wednesday, Winston-Salem State University announced it had received a historic $50 million gift from Scott, whose current net worth is roughly $36 billion. Scott acquired much of her wealth from her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and she has pledged to give away most of her wealth. So far, she’s donated well over $19 billion.
“This gift is truly life-changing for our students and our community,” WSSU Chancellor Bonita J. Brown said in a statement. Her gift “transform[s] lives, not just today, but for generations. Her investment empowers us to make a high-quality education accessible, affordable, and within reach for students who never believed college was possible.”
This donation comes at the heels of other major donations from Scott to HBCUs this fall, including a record-breaking $80 million gift to Howard University, one of the largest single donations in Howard’s 158-year history. The $50 million donation to WSSU was the largest single gift in the university’s 133-year history and builds on Scott’s 2020 $30 million donation.
Over the weekend, another HBCU, Voorhees University, announced a $19 million gift from Scott—the largest donation in the Denmark, S.C. School’s history. She also donated $4 million to the school in 2020
“The $19 million investment will support endowment growth, student recruitment and retention, scholarships, and deferred maintenance, ensuring long-term institutional sustainability and continued academic excellence,” Ronnie Hopkins, president and CEO of Voorhees University, said in a statement.
Scott’s dedication to DEI-focused giving is evident: This fall, Scott also made a $70 million donation to UNCF, the nation’s largest private provider of scholarships to Black students. She also made a $42 million gift to 10,000 Degrees, a Bay Area nonprofit expanding college access for low-income and largely non-white students, alongside other eight-figure commitments to Native student scholars.
In October, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund also announced a $40 million gift from Scott—twice the size of her previous donation to the organization in 2021, representing 20% of its fundraising so far.
About MacKenzie Scott and her giving style
Scott earned much of her fortune through her connection to Bezos. During her marriage, she played a key role in Amazon’s founding and early operations, including helping with business plans and contracts. She received a roughly 4% stake in Amazon upon their divorce—an amount equal to about 139 million shares at the time.
Since then, Scott has shedded many of her Amazon shares to liquidate into donations for causes she cares about. She’s reduced her stake in Amazon by about 42%, selling or donating about 58 million shares, worth around $12.6 billion as of late 2025.
But she’s still worth more than $35 billion today, despite donating $19.25 billion through her philanthropic platform Yield Giving, which she founded in 2022, and offloading many of her Amazon shares. Her organization has donated to thousands of organizations, focused on issues including DEI, education, disaster recovery, and more.
Still, Scott’s wealth continues to grow thanks to the power of Amazon’s shares. This year alone, she’s added $923 million to her net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. And since November 2020, Amazon share prices have jumped more than 54%.
Scott’s gifts tend to be unrestricted, meaning the organization to which she donates can use the money as they choose. This has been especially transformational for HBCUs and DEI-focused organizations this year, considering the Trump administration’s cuts to education and diversity-related organizations.
She’s also filled gaps for disaster-relief organizations in the wake of the Trump administration’s cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an organization Americans rely on for help during and after hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, and floods. In late October, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) announced it had received a $60 million gift from Scott.
“All sectors of society—public, private, and social—share responsibility for helping communities thrive after a disaster,” CDP president and CEO Patricia McIlreavy previously told Coins2Day. “Philanthropy plays a critical role in providing communities with resources to rebuild stronger, but it cannot—and should not—replace government and its essential responsibilities.”