The billionaire philanthropist’s eye-watering gift was the single largest contribution in the college’s history, which dates back to 1901, the school recently announced in a Facebook post.
Scott acquired much of her $38.9 billion fortune from her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and she since has pledged to give away most of her wealth through her organization Yield Giving. So far, she’s donated well over $19 billion across thousands of organizations, focused on issues including DEI, education, disaster recovery, and more.
“I cannot possibly adequately articulate my gratitude for Ms. Scott’s vote of confidence in the mission and activities of the college by allowing us to allocate the resources as we believe are in the best interest of the college,” said NOC President Diana Morris in the post.
And the money is well-needed; about 80% of students at the college receive financial aid and/or scholarships, with 75% of the pupils completing their degrees with zero debt.
Brad Purdy, Chair of the NOC Foundation Board of Trustees and an alumni of the college, emphasized how the donation does not negate the need for future funding.
“We hope this announcement will make our donors even more excited when they open their mail to find information about the annual year-end Greater Gifts drive, recognizing that the college will be using the unrestricted gift from MacKenzie Scott to create new scholarships and programs,” Purdy said.
Scott’s giving style: Often large and unrestricted
Scott’s gifts are often large, unrestricted, and don’t have a specified timeframe in which they need to be spent. Over the past few months, she has expanded her gifts to higher education, with over $740 million given to over a dozen historically Black colleges [HBCUs] and universities including Howard University and Morgan State University.
Scott also signed The Giving Pledge in 2019—a philanthropic initiative launched by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett. The foundation invites the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to publicly commit to giving away at least 50% of their wealth to philanthropy, either during their lifetimes or in their wills.
Over time, Scott has also donated to a multitude of causes, ranging from a $84 million gift to Girl Scouts, $20 million to Vermont’s Champlain Housing Trust, $436 million to Habitat for Humanity, and $275 million to Planned Parenthood. She also previously gave UNCF $10 million in 2020. Of the thousands of donations Scott has made since 2019, her median gift size is roughly $5 million.
Scott’s recent donations to tribal colleges
The donation to Northern Oklahoma College isn’t the first in Scott’s trend of giving to students at smaller schools. More recently, aside from HBCUs, she has expanded her giving to another small tribal college. The news comes soon after the Trump administration has sought to pull back on federal funds, which tribal colleges rely on to operate.
In Winnebago, Nebraska Scott donated $5 million to Little Priest Tribal College. The donation was the largest gift in history to the college, which was established by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska in 1996.
“This is a truly historic moment for Little Priest Tribal College. We are deeply grateful to the MacKenzie Scott Foundation for this transformative gift, which will accelerate our plans to develop a new 10-acre campus estimated at $60 million,” LPTC President Manoj Patil said last week.
“The LPTC Board of Trustees has committed these funds entirely to the campus project, expected to begin in mid-2026. This investment will not only expand our physical footprint but also empower us to better serve our students, community, and generations to come.”