MacKenzie Scott's $70 million anchors a seven-year plan at the American Indian College Fund

The American Indian College Fund announced on October 29 that Yield Giving, MacKenzie Scott's philanthropy, gave it $70 million in unrestricted money, which the Denver charity will spend under a new seven-year plan for Native students and tribal colleges.

It is the second gift the College Fund has received from Scott in five years and the larger of the two, the fund said in its announcement. The College Fund calls itself the nation's largest charity supporting Native higher education and works with the 34 accredited tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), which are on or near reservations.

What does unrestricted mean here?

The College Fund, not the donor, decides how the money is used. An unrestricted gift can go to any purpose within the charity's mission, unlike a restricted gift, which binds the charity to the donor's terms. The fund has chosen to put $20 million into what it calls a designated endowment and to spend the rest on programs over seven years.

What will the money pay for?

Students first, then the colleges that serve them. For students, the plan lists more TCU scholarships, college success coaching, wellness and academic resources, internships, career assessment, mentoring, college-to-career pathways and a family-friendly campus initiative. For the colleges, it lists faculty development, institutional capacity, cultural and environmental programs, curriculum, research, governance training and public education campaigns.

The fund said it wrote the plan after meeting with Native students, TCU presidents, community members and its board. "We built this plan by listening first," said Cheryl Crazy Bull, its president and CEO, in the announcement. The announcement does not say how the $50 million outside the endowment is split among these programs or by year.

How big is the gift for the College Fund?

By our arithmetic, the gift is larger than a full year of the fund's donations. On its most recent Form 990 in ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer, for the year ended June 2024, the College Fund reported $50.0 million in contributions, $55.5 million in total revenue, $61.3 million in expenses and $203.0 million in assets. The $70 million is 1.4 times that year's contributions, and the $20 million endowment share equals about 10% of those assets. If the other $50 million were spread evenly, it would be about $7.1 million a year, or roughly 12% of that year's spending. The fund has not said it will spread it evenly.

The table compares the fund's own figures in its 2021 announcement of Scott's first gift, whose size it did not disclose, with this one. The two scholarship figures are not measured the same way.

Why does the fund say this matters?

It argues that Native education is underfunded. Citing a report it published with Brookings in August, the fund says less than 1% of U.S. philanthropic investment serves Indian Country. It also says its own research shows scholars graduate and enter careers at 1.5 times the rate when they get support beyond scholarships, which is why much of the plan pays for coaching, mentoring and wellness rather than tuition alone.

What can other nonprofits take from it?

In our view, the useful part is the plan around the money. The fund named a time frame, set a fixed share aside for the long term and published the list of what the rest will buy, which gives donors and partners something to check progress against. Funders backing completion over enrollment, such as Houston Endowment's community college grants, are making a similar bet that support around the classroom is what moves graduation rates.