MacKenzie Scott Tops $300 Million In Recent Higher Education Gifts
In just the span of one month billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated more than $300 million to various colleges and higher scholarship funds.
www.forbes.comHere’s what’s latest on Mackenzie Scott’s higher-education donations, based on recent reporting.
- A notable wave of gifts in late 2025 and early 2026 pushed her annual and cumulative giving to a new milestone, with multiple universities announcing seven- and eight-figure unrestricted gifts aimed at bolstering endowments, access, and long-term stability. These gifts included historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other access-focused institutions.
- Several colleges reported record or largest-ever gifts from her Yield Giving vehicles, underscoring a continuing strategy to empower institutions serving underserved students through unrestricted support that can be deployed at leadership’s discretion.
- In March 2026, press coverage highlighted a large gift to Elizabeth City State University, noted as one of the largest per-student gifts among HBCUs, reflecting Scott’s ongoing emphasis on historically underserved populations.
Illustrative example
- An HBCU recipient in late 2025 was Alabama State University, which announced a substantial unrestricted gift, described by the president as a pivotal moment for the institution .
Notes and caveats
- The gifts span multiple institutions and amounts, often reported as part of broader annual totals that exceed $1 billion in a year for higher education gifts from Scott. For exact figures by institution and the timeline, see the cited outlets above, as totals have varied by reporting period.
If you’d like, I can pull the most current, institution-by-institution breakdown and summarize it in a table, or filter to gifts to specific types of schools (HBCUs, Tribal colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions).