These 5 HBCUs in NC will benefit from $70 million from MacKenzie Scott
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott made one of her largest single donations ever to financially strengthen historically Black colleges and universities. Five North Carolina institutions will benefit.
United Negro College Fund announced Scott’s 2025 donation of $70 million earlier this week. The 81-year-old organization provides more than $65 million in scholarships to minority students each year and financially supports 37 HBCUs around the country. The organization launched a $1 billion capital campaign in 2021.
“This extraordinary gift is a powerful vote of confidence in HBCUs and in the work of UNCF,” Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF, said in a news release. “It provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our member institutions to build permanent assets that will support students and campuses for decades to come.”
It’s not the first time Scott, author and former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has donated to UNCF. She previously gave the organization $10 million for its emergency reserve fund in 2020. Scott, who has an estimated net worth of over $32 billion, has given away $19 billion in largely unrestricted gifts to over 2,000 nonprofits since 2019.
The $70 million gift will be invested in the UNCF Members Pooled Endowment Fund, which is designed to strengthen the long-term financial health of all UNCF member HBCUs.
The fund aims to form a pooled endowment of $370 million – $10 million for each UNCF member school, including Charlotte’s Johnson C. Smith University. The school’s $10 million will include $5 million from UNCF, with a matching $5 million raised by JCSU. That funding will be invested and pay out at 4% each year.
The pooled $370 million would increase the median endowment of UNCF member schools by 63%, from $15.9 million to $25.9 million, according to a statement from UNCF. JCSU currently has an endowment of $64 million.
“This investment affirms the critical role that HBCUs play in higher education and in shaping future leaders,” JCSU President Valerie Kinloch said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer. “Also, it strengthens the ability of HBCUs to provide scholarships to our students, especially as we work to further enhance our academic programs, build permanent resources, and create professional opportunities that empower our students to thrive now and in the future.”
Four other North Carolina HBCUs are among the 37 UNCF member schools receiving funding: Livingstone College in Salisbury, Bennett College in Greensboro, Shaw University in Raleigh and St. Augustine’s University, also in Raleigh.
The gift is good news for the college after JCSU found itself in hot water earlier this year when the university’s accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, placed it on “probation for good cause.” The agency said the institution did not “demonstrate compliance” with its standards for financial responsibility and control of finances. Neither the accrediting agency nor the university specified which specific financial issues led to the probation.
The university will be reviewed for compliance again in June.
At the time, university leaders said the school was moving in the right direction and had taken steps over the previous 18 months such as enhancing accountability measures and hiring additional faculty and staff.
Kinloch said the university is committed to holding up its half of the $10 million deal with UNCF.
“Doing so will allow JCSU to continue to increase our own endowment while continuing to improve the long-term financial trajectory of our institution,” Kinloch said.
This story was originally published September 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
