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

Standing by DEI

• Scott’s $42 million donation to 10,000 Levels marks the most important single reward within the group’s 45-year historical past, reinforcing her technique of funding alternative pipelines for first-generation and low-income college students, a lot of whom are college students of shade.​
• 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, whereas retaining the ingredient of shock that has made her philanthropy unusually catalytic for recipients unaccustomed to such versatile main items.​

• 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, that are supposed to speed up institutional capability at HBCUs over the long run.​
• Scott’s $19 billion, five-year giving arc consists of an operational shift towards “mission‑aligned” investing alongside grant making to multiply social affect, particularly in financial mobility and training.​

• Scott, who pledged to give away billions following her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has signaled an enlargement into mission-aligned investments that mirror her grant priorities, aiming to “withdraw” capital from portfolios that immediately advance financial mobility, training, and well being—then amplify that affect once more by means of 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.