Billionaire MacKenzie Scott doubles down on DEI with $42 million donation

Standing by DEI

• Scott’s $42 million donation to 10,000 Degrees marks the largest single gift in the organization’s 45-year history, reinforcing her strategy of funding opportunity pipelines for first-generation and low-income students, many of whom are students of color.​
• Her recent giving also includes tens of millions for Native Forward, the nation’s largest scholarship provider for Native students, signaling continued backing of racial-equity-centered education funds amid broader sector retrenchment on DEI.​
• The pattern aligns with Scott’s hallmark of large, trust-based grants to equity-focused organizations, providing flexible capital to scale access and persistence for underrepresented learners.

• In September, Scott donated $70 million to UNCF as part of a campaign to bolster pooled endowments across 37 HBCUs, a move designed to create durable revenue streams and narrow historic wealth and funding gaps versus predominantly white institutions.​
• The gift—one of Scott’s largest—builds on her earlier support for Black higher education and reflects a multi-year focus on education equity as a cornerstone of her philanthropy.

• Scott’s model emphasizes speed, scale, and minimal restrictions: large grants delivered quickly and without strings, allowing grantees to deploy funds where needs are greatest and opportunities are most immediate.​
• In 2024, she formalized part of her approach with an open-call process via Yield Giving, while retaining the element of surprise that has made her philanthropy unusually catalytic for recipients unaccustomed to such flexible major gifts.​

• Over the last five years, Scott has given more than $19 billion to thousands of organizations, with 2024 alone accounting for roughly $2 billion across nearly 200 grantees focused on economic security, housing, jobs, child development and postsecondary education, and health care.​
• Her portfolio of large recipients spans affordable housing, health equity, education, and financial inclusion, with repeat funding to proven performers and a growing list of equity-centered institutions.​

• Fortune’s previous reporting on Scott’s UNCF gift details its endowment-building design and the no-strings-attached nature of her grants, which are intended to accelerate institutional capacity at HBCUs over the long term.​
• Scott’s $19 billion, five-year giving arc includes an operational shift toward “mission‑aligned” investing alongside grant making to multiply social impact, especially in economic mobility and education.​

• Scott, who pledged to give away billions following her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has signaled an expansion into mission-aligned investments that mirror her grant priorities, aiming to “withdraw” capital from portfolios that directly advance economic mobility, education, and health—then amplify that impact again through unrestricted nonprofit grants.​
• Expect continued emphasis on trust-based funding, repeat gifts to high-performing grantees, and endowment-strengthening contributions that turn equity goals into durable institutional assets, particularly across HBCUs and scholarship ecosystems serving underrepresented students.