Billionaire philanthropist and ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott, has donated $80 million to Howard University, making it one of the largest single gifts to a college with an African-American history.
This historic investment aims to strengthen the institution’s infrastructure while contributing to diversity and equity. However, this is not the first time that Scott, the ex-wife of the Amazon founder, has donated to the university.
Scott, whose worth is estimated at $35.6 billion according to the Wall Street Journal, has made several multimillion-dollar donations to various institutions and causes.
MacKenzie Scott’s biggest donations to date
— Howard University: Scott previously gave the university $40 million in 2020 and another $12 million in 2023. With her latest gift, Scott’s total gift to Howard now stands at $132 million.
— Alabama State University (ASU): The billionaire philanthropist also donated a record $38 million to Alabama State University (ASU), the largest single gift in the university’s 158-year history, the institution said in a report dated Oct. 27 of this year.
— 10,000 degrees: She recently gave $42 million to 10,000 Degrees, a Bay Area nonprofit expanding college access for low-income, mostly nonwhite students, a Mint report confirmed on Oct. 11, 2025. This marked the largest donation in the institution’s 45-year history.
— United Negro College Fund (UNCF): In September of this year, Scott also donated $70 million to UNCF as part of a campaign to strengthen endowments across 37 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The endowment aims to create sustainable revenue streams and close historic funding gaps between HBCUs and predominantly white institutions, Fortune confirmed.
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— Habitat for Humanity International: In 2022, MacKenzie Scott made a transformational gift of $436 million to a nonprofit that focuses on affordable housing.
— Planned Parenthood Federation of America: In 2022, Scott donated a record $275 million to Planned Parenthood, which provides a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services, including birth control, STI testing and treatment.
Scott already donated about $2 billion to 199 organizations last year, Mint reported, citing Yield Giving data, bringing her total giving over the past five years to $19.25 billion.
What is MacKenzie’s source of wealth?
Mackenzie Scott’s wealth comes primarily from her stake in Amazon, which she acquired in 2019 after her divorce from founder Jeff Bezos. As part of the settlement, she received approximately 4% of the e-commerce giant’s shares, instantly making her one of the world’s richest women.
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Adding to her wealth is the increase in the value of Amazon shares and the dividends from the shares she holds. According to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, Scott’s net worth is $41.1 billion. Since her divorce, Scott has reported more than $19 billion in charitable donations, according to the index.
Shortly before her donation to Howard University, Scott significantly reduced her stake in Amazon, reducing her stake by nearly 42% to about $12.6 billion, according to a recent SEC filing cited by Bloomberg.
