MacKenzie Scott Gave More Than $500M to Historically Black Colleges. Here’s How the Donations Made an Impact

MacKenzie Scott has a long, and well-documented, history of philanthropy, which includes donating millions to historically Black colleges and universities across the country

In 2020, according to a report from Rutgers University, the philanthropist and ex-wife of Jeff Bezos gave a whopping $560 million to 23 HBCUs scattered across the country.

Analyzing the immediate impact of Scott’s donations, Rutgers researchers found that, “on average, the median enrollment of new students was more than 300 students greater for HBCUs that received funding when compared to the median enrollment for those that did not receive funding.”

Additionally, institutions that got donations “attained retention rates fifteen percent higher than institutions that did not receive a donation,” researchers wrote in the 2021 report.

As for what’s happened to the donations over the years, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently reported that Morehouse College officials will use the $20 million donation the school received to construct a new campus center building.

Meanwhile, Spelman College put Scott’s $20 million unrestricted donation to a variety of uses, a school spokesperson tells PEOPLE.

$11 million was invested in Spelman’s endowment, $1.1 million was put toward the college’s Social Justice Scholars program and in 2020, every student received a Path Forward scholarship worth $3,500. Officials used the rest of the money for technology upgrades, academic programming and other improvements.

A spokesperson for Lincoln University in Pennsylvania called their $20 million donation, one of the largest in the university’s history, “transformative.”

“The gift has been instrumental in strengthening Lincoln’s strategic priorities, including student success initiatives, academic innovation, and long-term financial sustainability,” the spokesperson tells PEOPLE.

Scott also gave $25 million to Bowie State University in 2020, in what was the largest gift the school had ever received, a communications director confirms.

BSU officials put $22.5 million into its endowment fund, then used the remainder to “secure grants that require matching funds from the university,” the communications director says. “Without that $2.5M we set aside specifically for matching purposes, BSU would not qualify to apply to such grants.”

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The University of Maryland Eastern Shore, which got $20 million, found plenty of uses for Scott’s generosity.

“The funds were used to create three endowments,” a university spokesperson tells PEOPLE.

The first provides “annual spendable income for a variety of purposes such as scholarships,” while the second funds special initiatives and the third “was matched with a special state of Maryland program to create a new Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship.”

“The holder of that Chair has further leveraged the funds to secure approximately $6 million to support programs for students, faculty and community members working to start their own businesses. Funds were also used for a maker’s space and most recently for an off-campus business incubator,” the spokesperson adds.

Fellow Maryland school Morgan State University previously announced that they used a majority of Scott’s $40 million gift for a newly created “Leading the World Endowment Fund,” that would then be invested.

In a series of statements, Howard University officials previously said Scott donated $40 million to the school in 2020.

“We plan to immediately put this eight-figure gift to good use to support components of our 5-year strategic plan to help students graduate on time, retain our talented faculty, enhance our campus infrastructure and support academic innovation and entrepreneurship,” said then-President Wayne A. I. Frederick.

In 2023, Scott gave an additional $12 million specifically to their College of Medicine.

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Meanwhile, an official from Tuskegee University confirms to PEOPLE that with their $20 million donation, they invested half in endowments, which helps fund scholarships — and the other half was “set aside for an investment account, which has grown to $14.9 million.”

Scott, who is dedicated to giving away the majority of her fortune during her lifetime, has a current estimated net worth of nearly $40 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

In the six years since her divorce divorce from the Amazon founder became official in 2019, resulting in an approximately $36 billion settlement, Scott has “transformed” philanthropy with her sizable, unrestricted donations, according to a three-year study published by the Center for Effective Philanthropy earlier this year.

Since their divorce, she has given away more than $19 billion to over than 2,000 organizations.