MacKenzie Scott donates $80M to Howard University, largest HBCU gift in 158-year history, boosting DEI, research, hospital operations

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated $80 million to Howard University, marking one of the largest gifts in the historically Black college’s 158-year history.

The unrestricted donation is intended to support student aid, research initiatives, infrastructure, and hospital operations, according to the university.Scott, whose net worth is estimated at $35.6 billion, has made several multimillion-dollar contributions to DEI initiatives and disaster relief causes in recent weeks. The latest donation comes as the federal government shutdown has affected the flow of funding for many higher education programmes.Gift allocation and university impactOf the $80 million, $63 million is designated for general use at Howard University, while $17 million will go to the university’s College of Medicine. “This historic investment will not only help maintain our current momentum, but will help support essential student aid, advance infrastructure improvements, and build a reserve fund to further sustain operational continuity, student success, academic excellence, and research innovation,” Wayne A.I.

Frederick, Howard interim president and president emeritus, said in conversation with the Fortune.Howard University described the timing of Scott’s gift as “opportune” because the ongoing federal government shutdown has delayed annual federal appropriations that support student programmes, research, and hospital operations. Nearly 95% of non-student aid staff at the Department of Education have been furloughed, leaving only essential personnel working.Funding challenges amid US government shutdownKey initiatives like the HBCU Capital Financing Program, which provides renovation and construction-loan subsidies, are currently stalled. The timing is particularly challenging as the Department of Education had announced a $495 million increase for HBCUs and tribally controlled colleges and universities (TCCUs) for FY 2025. Education experts have highlighted the difficulty of reconciling this funding halt with the current US President’s stated approach to dissolving the DOE, as reported by the Fortune.Scott’s broader DEI-focused donationsThis donation builds on Scott’s previous contributions to DEI-focused organisations. Earlier, she gave $42 million to 10,000 Degrees, a Bay Area non-profit supporting low-income and largely non-white students. She also made eight-figure commitments to Native student scholars and HBCU endowments through the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). In September, Scott donated $70 million to UNCF as part of a campaign to increase pooled endowments across 37 HBCUs.In October, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund received $40 million from Scott, doubling her previous contribution in 2021. Scott emphasised that, while the dollar amounts are significant, they represent only a fraction of the intended impact. She wrote in an essay on Yield Giving’s website, as quoted by the Fortune, that the “potential of peaceful, non-transactional contribution has long been underestimated, often on the basis that it is not financially self-sustaining.

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