Mackenzie Scott

Cal State East Bay President Cathy Sandeen was in a meeting when the news arrived. Her university had just received $50 million from MacKenzie Scott—the largest donation in the school's 68-year history.

"I'm speechless," Sandeen said.

She wasn't the only one. Since mid-October, Scott has donated over $860 million to colleges and universities across America. But these aren't donations to Harvard, Stanford, or Yale. They're going to schools you've probably never heard of—struggling regional universities, historically Black colleges, tribal institutions, and community colleges that serve students elite schools won't.

While some universities are closing academic presses to save $300,000 and others are negotiating with the Trump administration over funding demands, Scott is writing nine-figure checks to institutions that have been overlooked, underfunded, and under appreciated for decades.

And she's doing it in a way that's as unusual as the scale: No applications required. No strings attached. No naming rights demanded. Just transformational money dropped into the laps of universities that desperately need it.

This is what disrupting higher education philanthropy actually looks like.

The Scale That's Hard to Grasp

Let's start with the numbers, because they're staggering.

Over $860 million to higher education institutions since mid-October. That's not counting Scott's billions in gifts to other causes—just colleges and universities. In six weeks.

To put that in perspective:

  • It's more than the entire annual operating budget of many mid-sized universities
  • It's roughly equivalent to what most universities raise in capital campaigns spanning five to ten years
  • It's more than the total endowment of hundreds of American colleges
  • It's being distributed faster than most universities can process major gifts

And the recipients aren't the usual suspects. While elite universities are used to securing eight- and nine-figure donations from wealthy alumni, Scott's money is flowing to institutions that rarely see gifts larger than a few million dollars—if that.

Howard University received $80 million. Winston-Salem State University got $50 million. Cal State East Bay received $50 million. Tougaloo College in Mississippi received an undisclosed but substantial gift. Numerous tribal colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, and community colleges are getting life-changing donations.

These aren't supplemental gifts to already-wealthy institutions. They're transformational investments in schools that serve America's most vulnerable and underserved students—institutions that have been struggling with enrollment declines, budget deficits, and crumbling infrastructure while wealthy universities build luxury amenities.

The School Nobody Else Would Fund

Cal State East Bay's story illustrates why Scott's approach matters.

The Hayward, California university lost 3,090 students between 2019 and 2023—a 25% enrollment decline that ranks as the third-worst in California's public university system. The CSU system overall lost 27,881 students (6.5%) during the same period, but East Bay was hit particularly hard.

The university faces a $13.2 million budget deficit for the 2025-26 academic year. Buildings need repairs. Programs need resources. Faculty positions sit vacant due to budget constraints.

This is not the profile that attracts major donors. Wealthy philanthropists typically give to their alma maters—elite institutions with strong brands and successful fundraising operations. They want to see their names on buildings at prestigious universities, not struggling regional schools in the Bay Area's less glamorous communities.

But Scott's team spent months quietly researching Cal State East Bay. They evaluated the university's "multi-year impact, financial stewardship and leadership." They looked at who the school serves and what it achieves with limited resources.

Then they gave $50 million—unrestricted, meaning the university can use it however it determines will have the greatest impact.

"Our hard-working students are finally getting the recognition and credit they deserve, and in such a big way," Sandeen said. "This is an extraordinary act of trust in our mission, our impact, and our values."

Cal State East Bay serves primarily first-generation college students, students of color, and students from low-income backgrounds. These are students who face significant barriers to higher education and who benefit enormously from access to quality public universities.

Scott's donation doesn't just help the university survive its current financial crisis. It transforms what's possible. With $50 million, Cal State East Bay can strengthen its endowment, invest in student support services, upgrade facilities, and build long-term institutional capacity.

And notably, the university plans to involve students and faculty in decisions about how to allocate the funds. "Nobody knows better what Cal State East Bay students need than Cal State East Bay students," administrators noted.

This participatory approach to spending represents another departure from typical major gifts, which often come with donor restrictions and specific spending requirements.

The Strategy Behind the Giving

Scott's philanthropic approach is as revolutionary as the scale of her donations.

Traditional major donors typically:

  • Give to their alma maters or institutions where they have personal connections
  • Require naming rights or other forms of recognition
  • Impose restrictions on how funds can be used
  • Expect detailed reports on impact and outcomes
  • Make institutions compete through application processes

Scott does none of this.

Her team conducts extensive research to identify organizations making significant impact with limited resources. They evaluate leadership, financial stewardship, and mission effectiveness. They look for institutions serving underserved communities.

Then they reach out directly—often surprising recipients who didn't know they were being considered—and make unrestricted gifts. No applications. No competitions. No naming rights. No ongoing reporting requirements.

The message is clear: We trust you to know what your students and community need. Use this money however will create the most impact.

This approach particularly benefits institutions that struggle with traditional fundraising. Many regional public universities, HBCUs, tribal colleges, and community colleges lack the alumni networks, development offices, and brand recognition that enable elite universities to raise hundreds of millions annually.

They serve students who often come from families without wealth to donate back to their alma maters. Their missions focus on access and mobility rather than exclusivity and prestige. Traditional philanthropy often overlooks them.

Scott's strategy flips this dynamic. She's finding institutions that are effective despite being underfunded and under-recognized, and giving them resources to be even more effective.

The Contrast With Current Crises

The timing of Scott's giving spree creates a striking contrast with other developments in higher education.

While Scott writes $50 million checks to struggling universities, Bucknell University is closing its 57-year-old academic press to save $300,000 annually. The press built Bucknell's international reputation, but administrators decided the budget savings justified eliminating it.

While Scott gives unrestricted gifts that institutions can deploy as they see fit, the Trump administration is demanding that universities eliminate diversity programs, restrict transgender student rights, and screen international students for political viewpoints—with threats to withhold federal funding if they don't comply.

While Scott identifies struggling HBCUs and writes transformational checks, St. Augustine's University is considering whether to join Trump's Academic Excellence Compact despite its terms conflicting with HBCUs' statutory mission—because the university needs funding desperately enough to contemplate compromising its core purpose.

While Scott gives $80 million to Howard University with no strings attached, UCLA is fighting federal demands for a $1.2 billion fine and policy changes that would reshape the institution according to political preferences.

The contrast is stark: One billionaire philanthropist is supporting higher education institutions to do their work more effectively. Political leaders are pressuring them to conform to ideological demands. One offers trust and resources. The other threatens punishment and control.

Who's Getting the Money

Scott's higher education giving since mid-October has followed clear patterns. The recipients fall into several categories:

Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Multiple HBCUs have received major gifts, including Howard's $80 million and Winston-Salem State's $50 million. These institutions have historically been underfunded despite serving crucial roles in providing educational access and producing Black professionals and leaders.

Tribal Colleges and Universities: Several tribal colleges serving Native American communities have received substantial donations. These institutions operate with extremely limited resources while serving students facing significant barriers to higher education.

Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Universities and colleges with high percentages of Latino students have received multiple gifts, supporting institutions that are critical to educational equity in rapidly growing communities.

Regional Public Universities: Schools like Cal State East Bay—public institutions serving their regions and communities rather than pursuing national prestige—have received major support.

Community Colleges: Two-year institutions that provide access to higher education for students who might not otherwise attend college have received numerous donations.

The pattern is clear: Scott is funding institutions that serve students who face the greatest barriers to higher education and that operate with the fewest resources. She's targeting the parts of higher education that most need support and get it least often.

The Ripple Effects

Scott's gifts create impact beyond the immediate recipients.

First, they reset expectations about what transformational giving to higher education looks like. By giving to struggling regional universities and minority-serving institutions rather than elite schools, Scott signals that these institutions deserve major philanthropic support.

Second, they provide resources to institutions that will use them to directly support student success. Unlike donations to already-wealthy universities that might fund another building or program, gifts to under-resourced schools typically translate more directly into student support, faculty resources, and essential infrastructure.

Third, they strengthen institutional stability. A $50 million gift to a university facing budget deficits and enrollment declines doesn't just help in the short term—it builds endowment, creates financial reserves, and provides long-term capacity to weather future challenges.

Fourth, they model a different approach to philanthropy. Scott's unrestricted gifts with no naming rights or control demonstrate that donors can support institutions without imposing their preferences or requiring recognition.

And fifth, they highlight the inequities in higher education funding. When one donor gives more to struggling schools in six weeks than they typically receive in decades, it reveals how underfunded and overlooked these institutions have been.

The Research Behind the Checks

Scott's team doesn't randomly select recipients. Each gift follows extensive research and evaluation.

According to institutions that have received Scott donations, her team conducts comprehensive reviews of organizational leadership, financial stewardship, programmatic impact, and mission effectiveness. They examine data on student outcomes, community impact, and institutional sustainability.

For universities, this means evaluating graduation rates, employment outcomes, support for underserved students, financial management, and effectiveness of academic programs. The research can span months before a university even knows it's being considered.

This approach differs dramatically from typical major gift fundraising, where institutions pitch donors and compete for support. Scott's team identifies organizations doing important work effectively, then reaches out to offer support.

The model is efficient from both donor and recipient perspectives. Institutions don't waste resources preparing applications or competing in processes they're unlikely to win. Scott's team can evaluate far more potential recipients than would be practical through application-based processes.

And the resulting gifts go to organizations that genuinely need support and demonstrate effectiveness, rather than to organizations with the best fundraising operations or donor connections.

The Cal State East Bay Impact

Cal State East Bay's $50 million gift illustrates the transformational potential of Scott's approach.

The university serves approximately 12,000 students, down from over 15,000 a few years ago. The student body is highly diverse: 46% Latino, 18% Asian, 9% Black, and many first-generation college students. These are students who face significant barriers to higher education and who benefit enormously from access to quality public universities.

With a $13.2 million budget deficit looming, the university faced difficult choices about which programs to cut, how many faculty positions to leave vacant, and which essential services to reduce. Like many regional public universities, Cal State East Bay has been doing more with less for years—serving growing numbers of students who need more support while receiving less state funding per student.

The $50 million changes this calculus entirely. While the university hasn't announced specific plans yet—they're engaging students and faculty in those discussions—the gift enables possibilities that were previously unimaginable:

  • Strengthening the endowment to provide long-term financial stability
  • Investing in academic programs that attract and retain students
  • Enhancing student support services that improve graduation rates
  • Upgrading facilities that have deteriorated due to deferred maintenance
  • Expanding scholarships and financial aid for students who need it most
  • Hiring faculty in high-demand fields where positions have gone unfilled
  • Creating new initiatives that differentiate the university and serve community needs

Perhaps most importantly, the gift changes the university's trajectory. Instead of managing decline—making cuts, reducing services, and hoping to survive—Cal State East Bay can invest in growth and quality. They can recruit students with confidence that they'll have resources to support them. They can plan strategically rather than merely reacting to budget crises.

This is what transformational philanthropy looks like: Not just helping an institution survive, but enabling it to thrive.

The Questions About Sustainability

Scott's giving raises important questions about higher education funding and sustainability.

First, should universities be dependent on billionaire philanthropy? Scott's generosity is changing lives and institutions, but relying on the goodwill of individual wealthy donors creates precarious situations. What happens to institutions if philanthropic priorities shift? Shouldn't public universities receive adequate public funding?

The answer, obviously, is yes—public universities should be properly funded through public appropriations. Scott's philanthropy shouldn't be necessary. But in the current political and fiscal environment, it is necessary. And her giving is helping institutions survive and serve students who would otherwise be underserved.

Second, does focusing philanthropy on struggling institutions create moral hazard? If donors know universities are financially stressed, does that encourage poor management or reduce pressure to find sustainable revenue models?

This concern seems misplaced. The universities Scott supports aren't struggling due to poor management—they're struggling due to structural underfunding, demographic changes, and economic pressures. Scott's team carefully evaluates financial stewardship before giving. Her gifts reward institutions doing good work with limited resources, not institutions wasting money.

Third, what happens when Scott's giving eventually stops? She has given away over $19 billion so far, but even her wealth is finite. Will universities become dependent on support that won't continue indefinitely?

This risk is real, which is why unrestricted gifts that can be used to build endowment and long-term capacity are particularly valuable. Scott's giving isn't creating operational dependency—it's providing resources that institutions can invest for sustained impact.

The Six-Week Sprint

Scott's $860 million in higher education giving since mid-October represents an extraordinary concentration of philanthropic activity.

Most major donors make large gifts periodically—perhaps a few major donations per year to organizations they support. Scott has averaged multiple massive gifts per week across just higher education, while simultaneously giving hundreds of millions to other causes.

This pace suggests a deliberate strategy. Rather than spreading giving gradually over years, Scott appears to be moving substantial wealth into nonprofit organizations as quickly as her team can identify worthy recipients and process donations.

Several factors might explain this approach:

Urgency: Scott may recognize that institutions need resources now, particularly given current political and financial pressures on higher education.

Efficiency: Concentrating giving in focused periods might be more efficient than managing ongoing donation processes indefinitely.

Impact: Releasing large amounts simultaneously creates broader impact and sends stronger signals about philanthropic priorities than spreading equivalent amounts gradually.

Philosophy: Scott has stated that wealth concentrated in few hands is problematic and should be redistributed to organizations doing important work. Moving money rapidly aligns with this philosophy.

Whatever the motivation, the six-week giving spree has created enormous impact across higher education while demonstrating that transformational philanthropy at scale is possible.

The Legacy Being Built

MacKenzie Scott shows no signs of slowing her philanthropic giving. Since her divorce from Jeff Bezos in 2019 and her receipt of substantial Amazon stock, she has given away over $19 billion—faster than almost any philanthropist in history.

Her higher education giving appears to be continuing, with new announcements likely in coming months. The pattern suggests she'll continue focusing on under-resourced institutions serving vulnerable students rather than elite universities.

She is building a philanthropic legacy that contrasts sharply with traditional major donors.

She's demonstrating that transformational giving means supporting institutions that need resources, not those that already have them. That trust in organizational leadership creates better outcomes than donor control. That unrestricted gifts provide more value than restricted donations. That quiet giving without recognition serves causes more effectively than high-profile philanthropy seeking credit.

And she's showing that higher education philanthropy doesn't have to mean giving to elite universities. Regional public universities, HBCUs, tribal colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, and community colleges do crucial work serving students who face the greatest barriers. They deserve philanthropic support.

Scott's six-week, $860 million giving spree won't solve higher education's funding challenges. But it will change hundreds of thousands of students' lives, strengthen dozens of institutions, and model an approach to philanthropy that prioritizes impact over prestige and need over recognition.

In a higher education landscape marked by budget cuts, enrollment declines, and political attacks, Scott's giving represents something increasingly rare: genuine, transformational support for institutions doing essential work.

"I'm speechless," Cal State East Bay's president said when learning of the $50 million gift.

It's an understandable reaction. In an era when universities are fighting for survival and scrambling for resources, MacKenzie Scott is proving that different possibilities exist—if philanthropy focuses on institutions that actually need support.

MacKenzie Scott's giving continues through her organization Yield Giving. She has given away over $19 billion since 2019, with over $860 million to higher education institutions since mid-October 2025. Cal State East Bay plans to engage students and faculty in discussions about how to deploy its $50 million gift starting in early 2026.