MacKenzie Scott donates $70 million to support HBCUs

Jason Armesto, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sep 23, 2025

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ATLANTA — Five of Georgia’s historically Black colleges and universities will soon reap the benefits of a $70 million donation given to the UNCF, formerly known as the United Negro College Fund.

The donation from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott will be invested in a UNCF pooled endowment fund that is designed to bring long-term financial stability to its 37 member institutions.

“Today’s gift means that our institutions will see a transformative impact on their endowments, resources that are desperately needed,” Clark Atlanta University President George T. French, Jr. said in a statement. “HBCU endowments are significantly smaller than those of predominately white institutions (PWIs), so this infusion of permanent capital will be game-changing for our schools and our students.”

Scott has been a major financial contributor to HBCUs, including those in Georgia. In July 2020, she gave Morehouse and Spelman $20 million each, and then in December 2020, she gave CAU $15 million. The schools said they used the money to fund scholarships, boost their endowments and for the construction of new buildings.

Scott’s latest gift will bring the UNCF closer to meeting its $370 million goal for the endowment fund. Each member school — which in Georgia includes CAU, the Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse, Spelman and Paine colleges — will receive a $5 million stake. The UNCF will then work with each school to help them raise an additional $5 million for the fund, ultimately giving the schools a $10 million stake.

The UNCF says the funds will be managed in perpetuity with annual distributions at a 4% payout rate. Effectively, money earned through the pooled investments will be split among the schools. Last year, the fund earned $4 million, according to the UNCF. Next year it expects to nearly double that amount.

The UNCF estimates each participating member will receive annual disbursements ranging from $820,000 to $1.9 million. The average endowment of UNCF member HBCUs would increase from $15.9 million today to $25.9 million, according to the organization.

“The more money we raise, the more we put in the endowment, the bigger check (members) get,” UNCF president and CEO Michael L. Lomax told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Money is the mother’s milk of education, and we just need more mother’s milk.”

Large endowments can enable universities to conduct more research, construct new buildings and offer more financial aid to needy students. Lomax noted Emory University’s announcement last week that it would give free tuition to students whose families make less than $200,000 was made possible through Emory’s endowment, valued at $11.5 billion.

HBCU endowments trail endowments at non-HBCUs by at least 70%, according to the UNCF. Howard University is the only HBCU with an endowment exceeding $1 billion, said Lomax. Morehouse has an endowment of about $275 million, the Atlanta HBCU has reported.

“Spelman has over a half-billion-dollar endowment, but some have less than a $5 million endowment,” said Lomax, noting that HBCUs frequently enroll low-income students. “We’re going to be able to help students with family incomes less than $20,000 or $30,000 or $40,000 per year.”

The UNCF already sends payments to its member institutions twice a year. With the fully funded endowment, it expects to be able to provide them with higher payments, plus an additional payment later in the year.

The pooled endowment — through which, Lomax said, schools will have access to more advantageous investment opportunities than they would if investing their smaller, individual endowments — can be a tool to close the racial wealth gap.

“You hear so much in the Black community of closing the family wealth gap,” said Lomax. “That’s what we’re trying to help build: wealth. So these HBCUs can have more resources to do what they do.”

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