Tougaloo second Mississippi HBCU to receive donation from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott

TOUGALOO, Miss. (WLBT) - Tougaloo College is the second HBCU in Mississippi to receive a huge donation from author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott this week.

The college announced Wednesday that they had been awarded a $6 million gift from Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the richest woman in the world. This comes a day after she donated $25 million to Alcorn State University.

“We are deeply grateful to philanthropist MacKenzie Scott for her generosity that enables us to advance major initiatives at Tougaloo College,” said President Dr. Carmen J. Walters, adding that the “remarkable” gift will insure that the college continues its momentum forward.

Tougaloo says that the $6 million gift will now be placed in the recently established Preserving and Advancing Excellence Fund and will be used to support major initiatives at the college.

Scott has recently donated over $4 billion to 384 organizations, four months after donating $1.7 billion to 116 organizations.