Native Group to Create Endowment With MacKenzie Scott Gift

The Native Forward Scholars Fund, a major scholarship provider and support organization for Indigenous students, is turning a multimillion-dollar gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott into a permanent endowment to support Native students, according to a news release.

Scott donated $50 million to the Native Forward Scholars Fund, announced last September, $40 million of which will be used to create the endowment. The remaining $10 million will go toward boosting scholarships over the next five years, part of an effort to accommodate a growing need among Native college students. 

The organization aims to help Indigenous students enroll and graduate from college by offering scholarships, emergency grants, mentoring and other services. Leaders say they have served more than 22,000 students from 500 tribes across the country since 1969. 

Angelique Albert, the group’s CEO, said in the release that Native students have long faced barriers to higher education.

“This investment reflects a principle long understood in Native communities: that decisions made today must hold in mind those who are seven generations in the future,” said Albert, who is a member of Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. “By pairing immediate scholarship expansion with a permanent endowment, Native Forward is honoring both the urgency of current student need and a responsibility to the Native leaders who have yet to begin their higher education journeys.” 

Scott’s latest gift follows a $20 million donation she made to the Native Forward Scholars Fund in 2020. Leaders said they used the money to expand support services, buy a building to generate cost savings and establish a $2 million endowment.

Scott, the former spouse of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has poured billions of dollars into initiatives helping historically underserved students succeed in higher education. Over the last few years, she’s made major donations to historically Black colleges and universities, tribal colleges, community colleges, and groups that serve Hispanic students.