GNO, Inc. Sunday Night Highlight – Thankful for MacKenzie Scott

For this post-Thanksgiving edition of the Sunday Night Highlight (slightly delayed by a posthumous celebration of Ella Brennan’s 100th birthday, for whom we are also thankful), we are thankful for MacKenzie Scott. The billionaire has given nearly $240 million to Louisiana organizations since 2020.  In the last few weeks, Scott has gifted $38 million to Xavier University – the only Catholic HBCU in the nation – and another $19 million to HBCU Dillard University, continuing her series of donations to HBCUs across the US.

After these recent gifts, the former writer and Amazon co-founder’s donations in the state have totaled $238.7 million, spread across nearly 50 universities, charities, and other organizations.

Scott’s does not generally solicit applications for funding. Rather, her team proactively researches nonprofit organizations and their work behind the scenes, and then makes unrestricted grants, so nonprofits have flexibility: to use funds for core operations, overhead, endowments, emergency support, expansion, and innovation.

You can see the full list of Louisiana organizations to which Scott has donated since 2020 here.