MacKenzie Scott extends her college-giving streak, donating a ‘life-changing’ $17 million to Northern Oklahoma College

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is on a roll, as her streak of donating money to colleges continues. Her latest was a massive $17 million “life-changing” donation to Northern Oklahoma College.

This was the largest donation in the school's history, it said in a blog post on November 22.

“Northern Oklahoma College has received a $17 million unrestricted gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the single largest contribution in the College’s history which dates back to 1901,” it said.

Scott has been donating her money to several colleges over the past few months.

Northern Oklahoma College president Diana Morris thanked Mackenzie Scott for her donation.

“I cannot possibly adequately articulate my gratitude for Ms. Scott’s vote of confidence in the mission and activities of the college by allowing us to allocate the resources as we believe are in the best interest of the college,” she said.

Morris said that Scott's donation will help the school achieve its goals and visions.

“Her donation will assist us as we seek to achieve our vision of serving as a model institution and leader in academic quality and cultural enrichment, promoting student success, collaborative learning, creative and forward thinking, and community responsiveness,” she said.

The donation will help the college out, where about 80% of students receive financial aid and/ or scholarships, while 75% of them complete their degrees without any debt.

“While that retreat will not take place until January, decisions concerning the allocation of these funds will center on the college’s 2025-2030 Strategic Plan. That plan was developed with the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Blueprint 2030 in mind, particularly the emphases on growing the student pipeline and producing workforce ready graduates,” the college said.

MacKenzie Scott's donations

MacKenzie Scott is known for her benevolent donations, often to colleges and their students in need. She has given away more than $740 million given to over a dozen historically Black colleges and universities [HBCUs] including Howard University and Morgan State University.

Scott has also signed the Giving Pledge, which is a philanthropic model launched by Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett that asks the fund's wealthiest individuals to publicly donate at least 50% of their money to philanthropy.

Much of her wealth comes from her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, after which she pledged almost all of it to charity. So far, she’s donated well over $19 billion across thousands of institutes that focus on including DEI, education, disaster recovery, and more.