Mackenzie Scott's giving wipes out $40 billion in medical debt and tops $1 billion for HBCUs

Mackenzie Scott, former spouse of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has become a leading force in debt relief and higher-education philanthropy. Her three donations to Undue Medical Debt—$50 million in 2020, $30 million in 2022 and a third contribution in December 2024—have enabled the charity to purchase and cancel unpaid medical bills at deep discounts, translating roughly $10 of donor money into $1,000 of debt forgiveness and wiping out more than $40 billion in medical obligations across every state.

At the same time, Scott’s giving to historically Black colleges and universities has surpassed $1 billion, highlighted by a recent $42 million grant to Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina and earlier multi-million gifts to institutions such as Howard University, Morgan State University and the United Negro College Fund. Her approach, characterized by unrestricted grants and minimal reporting, has attracted both praise and criticism; Elon Musk publicly mocked her style in a now-deleted post. The combined impact of her medical-debt relief and HBCU support underscores a distinctive model of large-scale, low-condition philanthropy.