MacKenzie Scott Doubles Down on DEI With Billions in Unrestricted Gifts to Equity-Focused Education Funds

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is reaffirming her commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with a new wave of large, unrestricted donations to organizations serving students of color and underrepresented communities. Her latest giving spree underscores a strategy rooted in trust-based philanthropy—delivering transformative, no-strings-attached funding to groups advancing educational opportunity.

Scott’s most recent significant contribution is a $42 million gift to 10,000 Degrees, a Bay Area nonprofit that helps low-income and largely non-white students access and complete college. The donation is the largest in the organization’s 45-year history and exemplifies Scott’s focus on expanding pipelines for first-generation and underrepresented students.

She also awarded tens of millions to Native Forward, the nation’s largest scholarship provider for Native students, continuing her strong backing for racial-equity-driven education funds at a time when many institutions are retreating from DEI initiatives.

In September, Scott made one of her most significant donations to date—a $70 million gift to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). The funds will help build pooled endowments across 37 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), designed to generate long-term financial stability and narrow persistent wealth and funding gaps between HBCUs and predominantly white institutions.

Scott’s giving model stands out for its speed, scale, and minimal restrictions. Grants are delivered quickly, without earmarks, giving recipients flexibility to respond to urgent needs. In 2024, she further formalized this approach through Yield Giving. This open-call process invites nonprofits to apply for unrestricted funding while maintaining the surprise-grant element that has made her philanthropy so impactful.

Over the past five years, Scott has distributed more than $19 billion to thousands of organizations, including roughly $2 billion in 2024 alone to nearly 200 grantees focused on economic security, education, housing, child development, and health care. Many of her most significant gifts have gone to equity-centered groups and repeat recipients demonstrating measurable impact.

Her giving also reflects a shift toward “mission-aligned” investing—using her capital to directly advance goals in economic mobility, education, and health, and then amplifying that impact through unrestricted grants.

Scott, who pledged to give away the majority of her fortune after her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, shows no signs of slowing. Analysts expect continued emphasis on trust-based philanthropy, repeat funding for high-performing grantees, and endowment-building support for HBCUs and scholarship programs serving underrepresented students.

In an era of backlash against DEI, Scott’s latest gifts send a clear signal: her vision for inclusive opportunity remains both unwavering and expansive.