UMES Receives Record Donation of $38-million from Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott

October 24, 2025/Mari Lou

 The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) today announced a $38-million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott – the largest single gift in the University’s history. This gift, along with $20-million to UMES from Scott five years ago, brings her total giving to the Historically Black, 1890 Land Grant university to $58-million.

University officials say Scott’s latest unrestricted investment is a powerful endorsement of UMES’s momentum and a clear show of support for the vision and leadership of President Heidi Anderson. The funding will deepen the university’s capacity to serve students, strengthen communities across the Eastern Shore, and expand UMES’s national impact as a high-value, high-quality HBCU.

MacKenzie Scott was married to Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos from 1993 to 2019. According to Wikipedia, she is committed to giving at least half of her wealth to charity as a signatory to the Giving Pledge, which is a charitable campaign founded by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett.

Additional information from UMES:

UMES will steward the $38 million to advance high-impact priorities that sustain long-term excellence and student opportunity, including:
  • Student Access & Affordability: Expanded need-based scholarships, emergency grants, and paid experiential learning to reduce time-to-degree and debt burden.
  • Academic & Research Excellence: Seed funding for interdisciplinary research, labs, and faculty recruitment in areas such as agricultural innovation, coastal resilience, aviation science, health professions, and data science. 
  • Student Success Infrastructure: Strengthening advising, mental health services, tutoring, and career development; modernizing classrooms and student spaces for collaborative learning.
  • Regional Engagement & Economic Mobility: Community-based initiatives and small-business partnerships that create internships, apprenticeships, and jobs across the Lower Eastern Shore.

 

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