MacKenzie Scott, the philanthropist once mentored by Nobel Prize–winning author Toni Morrison, has made history at Morgan State University.
According to The Washington Post, on Wednesday, October 15, the Baltimore-based HBCU announced a $63 million unrestricted donation from Scott—the single largest private gift in the school’s 157-year history.
The amount surpasses her own 2020 record at the same university, when she gave $40 million.
Morgan State President David K. Wilson said the new gift will fuel transformation on multiple fronts, including student support, faculty endowments, and research in areas like brain science and artificial intelligence. “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.
Founded in 1867, Morgan State has steadily grown into the nation’s third-largest HBCU, with more than 11,500 students enrolled this fall. The university recently broke ground on plans for the country’s first public nonprofit medical school at an HBCU and is working toward recognition as a top-tier research institution by 2030.
Leaders say the new endowment will help close longstanding funding gaps and position the campus as a leader in innovation.
Scott’s philanthropy is rooted in her background. According to The TODAY Show, after graduating from Princeton University in 1992, she studied creative writing under Morrison, who described her as “one of the best students I’ve ever had.”
Scott went on to publish award-winning fiction before supporting her then-husband Jeff Bezos in launching Amazon in 1994. Following their 2019 divorce, she received a four percent stake in the company, worth more than $30 billion at the time.
She has since committed to giving away the majority of her fortune, with more than $19 billion already distributed to over 2,000 organizations.
HBCUs have been among her most significant beneficiaries. Scott has donated $70 million to the United Negro College Fund and more than $45 million combined to schools like Bowie State University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Her approach emphasizes trust: recipients often learn of their selection only after the donation is finalized, with no restrictions on how the funds are spent.
In a blog post, Scott highlighted the broader impact of generosity: “Votes are not the only way to show what we’d like to see more of in our societies. There are many ways to influence how we move through the world, and where we land.”