At a time when Howard University faces financial challenges because of the federal government shutdown, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has stepped in with an $80 million donation.
The HBCU announced details about the donation on Nov. 2, saying it includes $63 million for the overall university and $17 million for its college of medicine.
“I want to extend my deepest gratitude to Ms. MacKenzie Scott for her extraordinary generosity,” said interim president, Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick.
Related: Netflix Partners With Howard University for $5.4 Million Scholarship in Honor of Chadwick Boseman
“This historic investment will not only help maintain our current momentum, but will help support essential student aid, advance infrastructure improvements, and build a reserve fund to further sustain operational continuity, student success, academic excellence, and research innovation,” Frederick added.
The school noted that the donation is one of the largest in Howard history.
It comes as the government shutdown delays the university’s annual federal appropriations to support school operations and the Howard University Hospital.
Dr. Andrea A. Hayes Dixon, who is dean and senior vice president of Health Affairs of the Howard University College of Medicine, said the money will be used to educate more Black physicians and to help bring health equity to the community.
“This $17 million unrestricted gift will help accelerate the expansion of our new Academic Medical Center, which will enhance our ability to train future generations of physicians and health professionals while improving access to quality care for the patients and communities we serve,” Dixon said.
Scott was a student of Howard alum and Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison at Princeton University. Scott went on to work at a hedge fund where she dated and married Jeff Bezos, who later founded Amazon.
The two divorced in 2019, after 25 years of marriage. As part of their divorce settlement, she received a 4 percent stake in Amazon, according to Forbes. The magazine lists her current net worth at $36.2 billion.
Following her divorce, Scott pledged to donate the majority of her wealth, and has previously given $40 million and $12 million gifts to Howard University in 2020 and 2023, respectively. To date, her contributions to the school total $132 million.
In a July 2020, Medium post, she said she had put together a “team of non-profit advisors” to help identify ways she could use her wealth to have a “major impact on a variety of causes.”
Scott said her goal was to focus on contributing to groups committed to improving racial equity, LGBTQ+ equity, gender equity, economic mobility, public health, building democracy, and combatting climate change.
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