Pasadena City College Receives $30M Donation From MacKenzie Scott

PASADENA, CA — Pasadena City College announced Tuesday it received what it’s calling the "largest single philanthropic gift in its nearly 100-year history" — $30 million, courtesy of MacKenzie Scott.

The gift was part of a larger, $2.7 billion giving spree by the 51-year-old in which 286 organizations that have been "historically underfunded and overlooked" received sizable charitable donations. Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, cited the growing wealth gap as a reason for the donations.

In a blog post announcing the donations, Scott said she worked with her husband, Dan Jewett, a Seattle schoolteacher, and a "constellation of researchers, administrators and advisors" to help give away her $60 billion fortune.

“In this effort, we are governed by a humbling belief that it would be better if disproportionate wealth were not concentrated in a small number of hands, and that the solutions are best designed and implemented by others,” she said.

Some of the recipients of the donations include groups fighting back against ethnic and religious discrimination, small art organizations catering to communities, artists typically overlooked by large donors, and organizations focused on empowering women and girls. She also focused her giving on two- and four-year schools whose students come from underserved communities.

Other schools in the Southland that received donations from Scott in addition to Pasadena include Cal State Northridge, Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach City College.

While plans are still being finalized for the no-strings-attached gift, Pasadena City College Superintendent/President Erika Endrijonas said in a statement it will be used toward the college's "populations that could benefit the most from the donation."

“We need to make sure this transformational opportunity reaches as many of our students as we can manage,” she said. “We will be making investments in programs and services that increase student equity, drive completion rates across student demographics, and ensure student success at scale.”

Endrijonas called the $30 million donation breathtaking and life changing.

“I cannot wait to put this investment to work,” she said.

The generous donation comes on top of a recent major gift campaign completed by the college's foundation that netted roughly $16 million from local donors, according to a statement from the college.

“This gift creates an unparalleled momentum for the PCC Foundation to fulfill its mission of enhancing teaching and learning at the college,” said Gloria Pitzer, the foundation’s president. “The PCC Foundation is thrilled to be part of this exciting moment and to be trusted as custodians for this gift.”