MacKenzie Scott’s donations to Fresno Unified, UC Merced among largest to California schools
MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, has donated well over half a billion dollars to more than 80 California schools and educational organizations since 2020, according to a new database launched by her foundation.
Several of those donations were good news for the Central Valley.
Fresno Unified appears to have received the fattest check out of the handful of K-12 schools in the state that Scott donated to.
The district’s $20 million donation from her foundation, announced in October, was said to be the first time Scott’s foundation sent money to any K-12 schools.
As with many of Scott’s donations, the specific motivations behind the donation are unclear. FUSD Superintendent Bob Nelson said that, regardless, the donations from Scott and others are validating for the district’s reputation.
“I can’t really tell you exactly how we came by 20 million bucks, but, like, that didn’t happen for a lot of people,” he said in a Dec. 16 interview with The Bee’s Education Lab. “Whatever it is, it ain’t all smoke and mirrors.”
The money is earmarked for the district’s new Foundation for Fresno Unified Schools, which is intended to fund scholarships for students.
Wendy McCulley, the district’s chief of Engagement and External Partnerships, told the Ed Lab in October that the district was still deciding how those scholarships would work exactly – for example, whether the district gives out scholarships to entire graduating classes, or to more select students but for all four years of college.
“We will continue to focus on scholarships, but there’s openings for us to do many, many more things now that we have 20 million,” she previously told the Ed Lab.
FUSD didn’t immediately respond to the Ed Lab’s request for an update on how scholarships may work Wednesday afternoon.
Only a handful of other K-12 districts make appearances in Scott’s database. Two of them – Kings River Union Elementary School District and Lindsay Unified – both lie in the Central Valley’s Tulare County.
Kings River Union received $1.5 million, while Lindsay is listed as having a “disclosure delay” and doesn’t specify a dollar amount, as was the case for some of the recipients in Scott’s database. The district has announced on social media, however, that the donation was in the amount of $8 million.
Also topping the list of Central Valley school donations from Scott is a $20 million gift to UC Merced, awarded in 2021.
The newest UC is also apparently the only campus in the University of California system to have earned a Scott donation.
“Any words of thanks from us would be utterly inadequate to express our full gratitude, humility and sense of responsibility to serve as careful stewards of this gift,” said UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz in a June 15 media release.
A few community colleges in the Valley received donations from Scott as well.
Porterville College in Tulare County received a $7 million donation in 2021. Kings County’s West Hills College Lemoore received an unspecified amount.
Scott, the fourth-richest woman in the world according to Forbes’ 36th annual list, became a billionaire after she received a quarter of her ex-husband’s Amazon holdings as part of their divorce settlement in 2019.
Since then, she’s donated millions to charitable causes, from grassroots organizations to established nonprofits.
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.
This story was originally published December 22, 2022 at 5:30 AM with the headline "MacKenzie Scott’s donations to Fresno Unified, UC Merced among largest to California schools."
