When Angelique Albert, CEO of the Native Forward Scholars Fund, received a call from a representative of MacKenzie Scott, she initially thought her organization was about to receive a $15 million donation. In reality, the gift was $50 million for America’s largest provider of scholarships to Native students. “What do you do but cry?” Albert told Observer.
Scott’s contribution, one of the largest-ever gifts to a Native nonprofit, marks the second time the philanthropist has supported the Native Forward Scholars Fund with an unrestricted donation. In 2020, she gave $20 million to the group, enabling it to launch an endowment fund, create six programs and strengthen its internal operations.
This time, Albert is determined to channel the money directly to students. Native Forward has already earmarked part of the donation to award scholarships to an additional 400 students, while also considering the creation of a pooled endowment to ensure long-term support.
“I don’t know that people really understand how transformative it is when you take a $5,000 scholarship and put it into the hands of someone who is brilliant and talented,” said Albert, who has led Native Forward since 2017.
Alumni supported by the Albuquerque, N.M.-based nonprofit include Debra Haaland, the first Native person to serve as a U.S. cabinet secretary; Pulitzer finalist Tommy Orange; and Cynthia Chavez Lamar, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Founded in 1969, Native Forward offers scholarships, programming, funding and mentorship to Native students pursuing undergraduate, graduate and professional opportunities. Its impact, which includes contributing to 1,700 law degrees and 2,200 Ph.D. degrees, has aided some 22,000 scholars from more than 500 Tribes across all 50 states.
Still, demand far outpaces supply. “We can only fund about 22 percent of the students who apply—and that’s on a typical year,” said Albert, who noted that scholarship applications have surged 35 percent in 2025. Of roughly 7,000 applicants this year, only about 1,000 have received aid.
Albert attributed the increased need in part to a rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and recent changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). “It’s critically important that we are intentional with this funding so that it can continue to give to students in the future in the most impactful way,” she said.
The size and flexibility of Scott’s gift align with her broader trust-based approach to philanthropy, which relies on quiet research and major, unrestricted donations. With an estimated net worth of $33.1 billion—much of it tied to her Amazon shares—Scott has given away nearly $20 billion since pledging in 2019 to donate most of her fortune.
Her giving has increasingly emphasized education. In September, she donated $70 million to UNCF, a nonprofit that supports historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), boosting endowments at more than three dozen schools across the U.S.
“She is changing the landscape of Native higher education, not to mention all of the other fields that she’s impacting,” Albert said of the philanthropist. Given the transformative results of the 2020 gift, she is eager to see what this new one will accomplish. “It’s a much different world than it was five years ago, and I look forward to seeing what this looks like in another five years.”
