MacKenzie Scott Gives $700 Million to Historically Black Colleges

Philander Smith University, a historically Black college in Arkansas, received the largest gift in its 147-year history on Friday, when billionaire MacKenzie Scott gave $19 million.

It was one of 15 donations she gave to historically Black colleges and universities this year, adding up to more than $700 million, according to a list compiled by Marybeth Gasman, a professor at Rutgers and the executive director of the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions.

“This gift is a resounding vote of confidence in our mission and our momentum,” Dr. Maurice D. Gipson, the president of Philander Smith, said in a statement.

The donations to the schools, some of which have struggled with enrollment and finances, come as the Trump administration has also directed additional money their way. In September, the administration allocated nearly $500 million for H.B.C.U.s and tribal colleges, on top of the federal funds they had already expected.

Recipients of Ms. Scott’s windfall praised her for giving funds without strings attached, which they said would allow institutions to distribute funds however they see fit.

Michael Lomax, the president and chief executive of the United Negro College Fund, which received $70 million from Ms. Scott to be shared with 37 H.B.C.U.s, described the donations as a “sea change in American philanthropy.”

Dr. Lomax said historically Black colleges have been doing “more with less for over a century.” More than 70 percent of their students are eligible for Pell grants, which are meant for students who come from low-income families, he added.

On Friday, Ms. Scott, the former wife of the tech billionaire Jeff Bezos, also gave $63 million to Prairie View A&M University in Texas and $50 million to Bowie State University in Maryland.

Howard University, a prominent historically Black institution and a major research center in Washington, received the largest single gift from Ms. Scott among H.B.C.U.s this year, at $80 million in early November. Of that, $17 million was earmarked for its medical school, the oldest training center for Black physicians in the nation.

“It’s a very transformative gift in more ways than one,” Wayne A. I. Frederick, the president of Howard University, said in an interview. The latest donation from Ms. Scott was one of the largest the university has received, he said, and the third from the philanthropist in the last five years. In all, her gifts to Howard have totaled more than $130 million.

“Placing that trust and that opportunity in our hands to do what we may consider highest priority is so critical, and especially in a shifting landscape,” he said.

Ms. Scott, who has pledged to give a majority of her wealth back to society, said she and her team use data to identify organizations for funds, “with special attention to those operating in communities facing high projected food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates and low access to philanthropic capital.”

President Trump has also shown support for historically Black institutions. In his first term, he distributed $250 million in annual funding and cut more than $300 million in federal loans for the schools. In April, through an executive order, he unveiled a new White House job to oversee H.B.C.U.s. But the position currently remains vacant.

Dr. Gasman, the Rutgers professor, said the Trump administration has sent mixed signals. The president has sought to crack down on diversity programs in education and has complained about the teaching of Black history. The funds for H.B.C.U.s and tribal colleges were announced as the federal government cut programs that support minority students in science and engineering programs and schools with significant Hispanic enrollment.

“They are willing to support Black people in Black institutions, but they are not very comfortable with Black people in white institutions,” Dr. Gasman said.

Here are the schools that received donations from Ms. Scott, according to Dr. Gasman’s list: