Billionaire MacKenzie Scott has donated to a broader effort to empower Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
CNN reports that Scott donated $70 million to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), “the nation’s largest private scholarship provider of scholarships to minority students.” According to its website, it awards over 10,000 scholarships every year.
The UNCF aims to raise $1 billion through its Capital Campaign to fund member HBCUs, a campaign that it launched in 2021. Scott’s donation will contribute to UNCF’s pooled endowment, which aims to create a $370 million fund to provide $5 million to each UNCF member HBCU to stabilize budgets, according to CNN. As part of the endowment, UNCF would also work with each institution to raise an additional $5 million stake, resulting in $10 million per school.
“This extraordinary gift is a powerful vote of confidence in HBCUs and in the work of UNCF,” the nonprofit’s President and CEO Dr. Michael L. Lomax told The Associated Press in a statement. “It provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our member institutions to build permanent assets that will support students and campuses for decades to come.”
Lomax added, “We are deeply grateful for MacKenzie Scott’s continued support. By entrusting UNCF to decide how best to use these funds, she affirms that HBCUs merit investment at this scale and her generosity will strengthen our member institutions and provide pathways to success for tomorrow’s changemakers.”
Scott has a track record of giving back to HBCUs. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, she donated $20 million to Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in 2022. It is one of the few Black medical schools in the U.S. The following year, she committed $12 million in unrestricted funding to Howard University College of Medicine, which supported an innovations center.
“We are extremely grateful to Ms. Scott for her amazing generosity and know that this gift will only strengthen us, and ultimately, the future of health care as our students learn to provide care that improves outcomes for all patients,” former Howard University President Ben Vinson III, Ph.D., said at the time.
