Billionaire philanthropist makes an impact in Houston
Following her divorce in 2019 from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is currently the second-wealthiest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $210 billion, MacKenzie Scott joined the Giving Pledge, a commitment to give away at least half of her assets. After 25 years of marriage and four children together, Scott received the biggest settlement ever awarded in a divorce — $38 billion in Amazon stock. She became the world’s fourth-richest woman.
“I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” she said in a public statement at the time. “I will keep at it until the safe is empty.”
Today her assets are valued at $35 billion. And to date, her Yield Giving foundation has granted over $14 billion to more than 1,600 nonprofits. Some of that philanthropy has impacted the Houston area.
Prairie View A&M University, $50 million
In December 2020, Prairie View A&M University received an unrestricted $50 million gift from Scott, the largest donation in the historically Black college’s 144-year history. Prairie View used the funds to create a $10 million Panther Success Grant program to assist juniors and seniors under financial strain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The remainder was applied to the university’s endowment, which increased by 37 % from $95 million to $130 million.
Scott awarded $160 million — of her total $1.7 billion in charitable giving from 2020 — to historically Black colleges and universities, including the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, United Negro College Fund, Hampton University, Howard University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Tuskegee University and Xavier University of Louisiana. The latter two institutions each cited “transformational gifts” of $20 million.
“Though I’m far from completing my pledge, this year of giving began with exposure to leaders from historically marginalized groups fighting inequities, and ended with exposure to thousands of organizations working to alleviate suffering for those hardest hit by the pandemic,” she wrote at the time on Medium.
San Jacinto College
In June 2021, Scott went public as the previously private donor behind San Jacinto College’s ‘21 Forward’ program, which pro
vided that year’s class of incoming freshmen with free tuition. Up to 5,000 students enrolled in the fall 2021 semester were eligible to earn either an associates degree or workforce certificate, in full. Scott detailed her decision to give $2.5 billion to various charities combating racism in a followup Medium post.
Project Row Houses
Later that month, Project Row Houses, Third Ward’s 22 historic shotgun-style houses that serve as galleries and community spaces, was named a beneficiary of Scott and second husband Dan Jewett’s charitable gifts. She and Jewett, a high school chemistry teacher, married earlier that year and divorced in 2023. In a joint statement, the then-newlyweds upped their previous pledge to more than $2.7 million to 286 organizations in categories and communities that had been historically under-funded and overlooked. Project Row Houses did not disclose the amount of funding
it received.
Houston Communities in Schools, $13 million
In February 2022, Scott donated $133.5 million to Communities in Schools’ 40 affiliate locations across the country in addition to the national office. Communities in Schools Houston received $13 million. Executive director Lisa Descant told the Chronicle that Scott’s $13 million was not something the organization applied for.
CIS of Houston’s core mission is to surround students with a community of support and for students to stay in school despite challenges or circumstance. The nonprofit, launched 45 years ago inside a Houston Independent School District middle school, has a presence in roughly 166 campuses across eight school districts and a community college system.
Episcopal Health Foundation, $20 million
In September, Scott donated $20 million to Episcopal Health Foundation to help the Houston nonprofit in its mission to improve health and health care in Texas. According to a news release from the organization, funds were used to bolster the effectiveness of ongoing grantmaking, research and community engagement efforts.
Collaborative for Children, $3 million
Collaborative for Children announced in May 2023 that Scott donated $3 million to the Houston-based nonprofit dedicated to early childhood education. The gift will further the organization’s mission to provide exceptional learning opportunities for children under age 5.
“She placed a phone call directly to my CEO saying, ‘This is MacKenzie Scott. I’d like to help,’” said Chase Murphy, a Collaborative for Children staffer, told the Chronicle. “It was an unexpected gift. She asks around to see what organizations are doing and who’s moving the needle.”
Houston Community Land Trust, $5 million
That October, the Houston Community Land Trust announced that it had received a $5 million grant from Scott. Executive director Ashley Allen told the Chronicle that funds would be used to pilot a number of affordable development types and housing stabilization efforts, which would help families repair their homes and minimize their taxes; commercial property, which would lower the rent burden for small local businesses; and tiny homes, which could sell for $55,000 to $65,000.
School-Based Health Alliance
In January 2024, Scott and Pivotal Ventures, a company founded by Melinda French Gates, donated a combined $23 million to School-Based Health Alliance. The national, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., works to set up and expand health care service centers in schools that primarily serve students from low-income families.
With the $16 million grant from Pivotal Ventures, SBHA will launch care coordination initiatives in Houston, Atlanta, Chicago and Miami. Conversations to fund that four-year project began last year, SBHA president and
CEO Robert Boyd said. The nonprofit has helped to install health care centers in 4,000 Title 1 schools across the country, where 80% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch. There are roughly 25,000 Title 1 schools nationwide.
Scott added an additional $7 million grant that came with a unique set of conditions. “They sought us out to provide general operating support,” Boyd said. “They fund organizations that they like, with no strings whatsoever. But we can’t give out their contact information and we can’t ever ask them for more money again.”
Yield Giving Open Call, $8 million
Most recently, in March, four local organizations became recipients of Scott’s $640 million charitable giving spree. Chinese Community Center and Daya will each receive $2 million grants; the Prison Entrepreneurship Program and Epilepsy Foundation of Texas, which have multiple locations throughout the state, including Houston, were also awarded $2 million grants.