On Tuesday, as Scott celebrated her 55th birthday, news broke that her latest HBCU donation, $42 million gifted to Elizabeth City State University on the North Carolina school’s Founders Day, officially pushed her HBCU giving past the $1 billion mark.
“I want to express our deepest gratitude to MacKenzie Scott for this remarkable act of generosity and for her recognition of the critical role that HBCUs play in expanding opportunity and strengthening communities,” Chancellor S. Keith Hargrove Sr. said in a statement released by the university.
The funds will be used to support ECSU’s ASCEND 2030 strategy by expanding endowed scholarships, strengthening academic programming, and investing in campus infrastructure across academic, residential, and athletic spaces.
“Gifts like this do more than provide resources; they accelerate momentum,” Hargrove said. “This gift allows institutions like Elizabeth City State University to move boldly toward the future while remaining grounded in the mission that has guided us for 135 years.”
The billionaire philanthropist has now directed more than $1 billion in total donations to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), marking one of the most significant sustained investments in Black higher education in recent history.
The milestone reflects years of strategic, high-impact giving. Since 2020, Scott has consistently delivered large, often unrestricted gifts to HBCUs—funding that institutions can deploy at their discretion, rather than navigating the constraints that typically come with major donations.
Source: MacKenzie Scott’s HBCU Giving Tops $1B, Redefining What Transformational Philanthropy Looks Like
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