MacKenzie Scott just gave this HBCU its largest gift ever — again
Author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is donating $63 million to Morgan State University - the largest single private gift in the school’s history - to bolster its endowment, research and support for students.
The gift, announced Wednesday, tops Scott’s record donation of $40 million to the historically Black university in Baltimore in 2020.
The school hopes to leverage the gift, which comes without restrictions, to endow several faculty positions, support students facing financial need and establish research centers on brain science and artificial intelligence, President David K. Wilson said in an interview. He wants the donation to help Morgan State develop into a “fully smart campus” with an AI model developed in-house for student use.
“The $63 million is going to enable us to continue a level of transformation at Morgan that we, perhaps, have not seen at an HBCU in the modern era,” Wilson said. “I want to say, ‘Thank you,’ but those words are so inadequate. The fact that she not only gave us a second gift but significantly increased it after the first one - that’s a hell of a statement coming from someone of her caliber about the value of Morgan.”
He also thanked Scott for her broader philanthropic support of HBCUs.
Scott has pledged to give away most of her wealth and made gifts to HBCUs in recent years, including $70 million to the United Negro College Fund and more than $45 million to various schools in the region such as Bowie State University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
When Scott and her former husband, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, divorced, Scott was awarded about 4 percent of the company, a stake worth more than $30 billion at the time. Bezos owns The Washington Post.
Scott’s foundation selects recipients through quiet research - where organizations are initially unaware they are being considered - or an open call for applications, according to her website.
In a blog post published Wednesday on Medium, Scott urged readers to consider the ripple effects of every act of kindness.
“Votes are not the only way to show what we’d like to see more of in our societies,” she wrote. “There are many ways to influence how we move through the world, and where we land.”
When Wilson found out about Scott’s first gift in 2020, he said he cried tears of joy. The school then got to work, creating an unrestricted endowment fund, multiple new research centers and endowed faculty chairs.
Morgan State, which broke its enrollment record for the fifth year in a row this fall with 11,562 students, is now the country’s third largest HBCU.
As the school works to overcome underfunding that leaders say has limited research opportunities at HBCUs, it has pulled in more than $65 million in research expenditures. It is on the cusp of receiving a coveted status as a top research university, a designation it aims to secure by 2030. The school also recently announced a plan to launch a public nonprofit medical school, the country’s first at an HBCU.
Wilson hopes Scott’s gift will show other donors that Morgan State is a university worth investing in.
“We are here to educate students to dance on the world stage with anyone, any place, anytime,” Wilson said. “With this gift, those doors are clearly opened.”