After donating over $700 million to historically Black colleges and universities in 2025, the full scope of Scott’s donations since 2020 is beginning to take shape.
MacKenzie Scott‘s generosity toward Historically Black Colleges and Universities underscores a deeper message.
The 55-year-old, who since the 2020 global pandemic has donated more than $1 billion to various HBCUs across the country, all of which have no strings or expectations attached. As the Trump administration wages a battle against DEI, not just in the workforce but on college campuses, Scott has made it clear to amplify Black colleges and Black organizations. In 2025, she donated $70 million each to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the United Negro College Fund.
In an essay shared on Yield Giving last December, Scott explained that several experiences in her college days helped contribute to her mindset toward philanthropy. A dentist who gave her free care for a broken tooth, a roommate who loaned her $1,000 to keep her from dropping out in her sophomore year.
“It is these ripple effects that make imagining the power of any of our own acts of kindness impossible,” Scott wrote.
The full list of HBCUs Scott has donated to since 2020:
Alabama State University: $38 million (2025)
Alcorn State University: $42 million (2025)
Bowie State University: $50 million (2025); $25 million (2020)
Claflin University: $20 million (2020)
Clark Atlanta University: $38 million (2025); $15 million (2020)
Delaware State University: $20 million (2020)
Dillard University: $19 million (2025), $5 million (2020)
Elizabeth City State University: $42 million (2026); $15 million (2020)
Hampton University: $30 million (2020)
Howard University: $80 million (2025); $40 million (2020)
Lincoln University (PA): $25 million (2025); $20 million (2020)
Morehouse College: $20 million (2020)
Morgan State University: $63 million (2025); $40 million (2020)
Norfolk State University: $50 million (2025); $40 million (2020)
North Carolina A&T State University: $45 million (2020)
Prairie View A&M University: $63 million (2025); $50 million (2020)
Spelman College: $38 million (2025); $20 million (2020)
Tougaloo College: $6 million (2020)
Tuskegee University: $20 million (2020)
University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES): $38 million (2025)
Virginia State University: $50 million (2025)
Voorhees University: $19 million (2025)
Winston-Salem State University: $50 million (2025)
Xavier University of Louisiana: $38 million (2025); $20 million (2020)
To break it down even further, Scott donated $451 million to HBCUs in 2020, then $701 million in 2025 (the total jumps to over $771 million, including the United Negro College Fund donation). Adding on her recent $42 million donation to Elizabeth City State University last month and Scott has donated more than $1.1 billion over the last six years.
The donations are rare in a day and age when everything feels transactional. The funds can be allocated toward scholarships, facility upgrades, endowments and more.
Each university has pledged to use its donations differently. For example, Elizabeth City pledged to create endowed scholarship programs to support student learning and success; establish endowments to support academic programs and growth; and support academic, athletic and residential infrastructure. Howard pledged to use $17 million of its $80 million donation to support its College of Medicine with a new Academic Medical Center. Prairie View A&M used theirs for enhanced scholarships and academic support, among other campus items.
For Scott, who found mentorship with Toni Morrison as a student at Princeton, what she learned under the acclaimed author helped not only shape her as a novelist but also as a human being.
“She has given me a real example of a life of passionate devotion to more than one calling,” she said in a 2017 interview. Scott was on hand as Morrison Hall was dedicated to the Nobel laureate.
Now she’s paying it forward, helping shape students at historic institutions across the country.
