Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has made a historic $80 million donation to Howard University, marking one of the largest gifts in the historically Black college’s 158-year history. This unrestricted contribution is designed to significantly boost student aid, research initiatives, essential infrastructure, and the vital operations of the university’s hospital system.
Scott, with an estimated net worth of $35.6 billion, has recently extended her philanthropic efforts to various Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) causes and disaster relief initiatives. This latest donation arrives at a critical juncture, as a federal government shutdown has impacted funding streams for numerous higher education programs.
Gift Allocation and University Impact
Of the total $80 million, $63 million is allocated for general university use, while the remaining $17 million will directly benefit Howard University’s College of Medicine. Wayne A.I. Frederick, Howard’s interim president and president emeritus, emphasized the donation’s significance to Fortune, stating, “This historic investment will not only help maintain our current momentum but will support essential student aid, advance infrastructure improvements, and build a reserve fund to further sustain operational continuity, student success, academic excellence, and research innovation.”
Howard University highlighted the “opportune” timing of Scott’s gift, noting that the ongoing federal government shutdown has caused delays in crucial annual federal appropriations that typically support student programs, research, and hospital functions. Currently, nearly 95% of non-student aid staff at the Department of Education have been furloughed, with only essential personnel remaining.
Funding Challenges Amid US Government Shutdown
Important programs like the HBCU Capital Financing Program, which provides subsidies for renovation and construction loans, are presently on hold. This situation is particularly challenging given that the Department of Education had previously announced a substantial $495 million increase for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs) for FY 2025. Education experts, as reported by Fortune, find it difficult to reconcile this funding suspension with the current US President’s expressed intent to potentially dissolve the Department of Education.
Scott’s Broader DEI-Focused Philanthropy
This donation is consistent with MacKenzie Scott’s pattern of supporting DEI-focused organizations. Earlier, she contributed $42 million to 10,000 Degrees, a Bay Area non-profit dedicated to assisting low-income and predominantly non-white students. She also made multi-million dollar pledges to Native student scholars and HBCU endowments through the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). In September, Scott gifted $70 million to UNCF as part of a broader campaign aimed at increasing pooled endowments across 37 HBCUs.
In October, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund received an additional $40 million from Scott, effectively doubling her previous donation from 2021. Scott reiterated that while the monetary sums are substantial, they represent only a fraction of the desired impact. She conveyed in an essay on Yield Giving’s website, as quoted by Fortune, that “the potential of peaceful, non-transactional contribution has long been underestimated, often on the basis that it is not financially self-sustaining.”