Author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott said Tuesday she is making what is the largest-ever single donation in the history of Howard University.
The former wife of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said she would commit $40 million to the historically Black college in Northwest D.C., part of a multitude of donations she outlined in a Medium post published Tuesday.
Howard said the gift would go toward ongoing campus improvement and renovation projects, a professional development plan for its faculty, and to develop a program on social innovation and entrepreneurship focused on the financial wellness of the university’s community. The donation will also help underwrite an existing Howard program that provides 100% matching funds for students who receive the maximum in federal Pell Grant funding. Created in 2014, the program is designed to remove barriers to college success and keep students enrolled.
