MacKenzie Scott has made a $40 million donation to the African American Cultural Heritage Motion Fund, actually doubling down on her ongoing dedication to variety, fairness, and inclusion (DEI). The donation is twice the dimensions of Scott’s earlier donation to the identical group in 2021 and represents 20% of the group’s fundraising up to now. It comes simply days after Scott made a $42 million reward to 10,000 levels, a nonprofit devoted to increasing faculty entry for low-income and largely non-white college students.
The Motion Fund, a division of the Nationwide Belief for Historic Preservation, introduced on Wednesday that Scott’s newest reward stands as the biggest single contribution within the group’s historical past. “The scale and impact of MacKenzie Scott’s continued investment in historic preservation is leaving an enduring mark on our nation’s history, and we are grateful for her philanthropic leadership,” mentioned Brent Leggs, government director of the African American Cultural Heritage Motion Fund.
Reinforcing DEI Amid Nationwide Retrenchment
Scott’s $40 million donation arrives at a crucial second. The African American Cultural Heritage Motion Fund, launched in 2017, is the biggest privately funded useful resource devoted to the preservation of websites related to Black historical past in the USA. Up to now, the Fund has raised almost $200 million and supported greater than 378 preservation initiatives nationwide, together with church buildings, museums, properties, and architectural landmarks important to the Black expertise. This pales compared to the funding requests it has acquired: 1000’s of preservation initiatives, collectively valued at greater than $1.2 billion. Fewer than 2% of the almost 95,000 locations listed within the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations characterize the Black historic expertise, underscoring what advocates describe as an pressing want for funding in Black cultural preservation.
Scott’s transfer comes at a time when many organizations are dealing with political and monetary strain to scale back DEI efforts, with one in 5 main firms reducing their budgets for such initiatives in 2025, based on Resume.org. By doubling her prior funding, Scott has despatched a symbolic and substantive message that investing in cultural fairness and recognition is important.
“Thank you to MacKenzie Scott for her far-reaching vision and for recognizing the purpose and singular impact of the Action Fund,” mentioned Carol Quillen, President and CEO of the Nationwide Belief for Historic Preservation.
Scott’s Signature Philanthropy Fashion
Scott has dedicated to freely giving the vast majority of her $41.2 billion estimated fortune from her involvement with the founding of Amazon. Since 2019, when her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was finalized, she has distributed greater than $19 billion to over 2,000 nonprofits, with about $110 million directed particularly to DEI causes previously 12 months alone. Her mannequin is characterised by trust-based philanthropy: massive, unrestricted items made with minimal paperwork. Her web site states, “Communities have always led their own preservation. We’re simply supporting those who already know what needs protecting.”
In a interval marked by uncertainty and debate concerning the worth of DEI, Scott’s $40 million reward is a high-profile affirmation and a big enhance for the battle to protect Black heritage for future generations.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to assist with an preliminary draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the knowledge earlier than publishing.
