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.

The UNCF anchor gift

• 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.

How Scott gives

• 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.​

Track record and totals

• 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.​

No-strings-attached

• 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.​

What’s next in her giving plan

• 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.

For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.