MacKenzie Scott Makes More Hefty Donations

MacKenzie Scott continues to give away her billions, with a new donation benefiting the preservation of Black history and culture, and one going to Morgan State University, a historically Black university. The billionaire philanthropist donated $40 million to the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund in her second major gift to the program, with the money going to expand the fund's endowment and support new and ongoing preservation projects across the US, per the New York Times. It's the largest donation in the fund's history, representing 20% of its fundraising so far, per Fortune. Scott, who has pledged to give away her Amazon fortune valued at $41.2 billion, first gave $20 million to the fund in 2021, helping to finance a range of initiatives aimed at safeguarding significant sites in African American history.

The Action Fund, launched in 2017 as part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is the country's largest privately funded effort focused on protecting Black heritage sites, including churches, museums, and historic homes. So far, it has raised nearly $200 million and supported more than 378 preservation projects nationwide. Notably, only 2% of the roughly 95,000 sites on the National Register of Historic Places highlight the Black experience—a gap the fund seeks to address. Recent projects backed by the fund include repairs to Detroit's New Bethel Baptist Church, commissioned by Aretha Franklin's father, and restoration work at Houston's first Black cemetery, dating to 1875.

The fund has also helped preserve the homes of musicians John and Alice Coltrane, which have been transformed into community spaces. Scott's latest contribution arrives as demand for preservation funding grows, with a surge in grant applications—especially for the fund's Black churches program. On top of the $40 million donation, Scott donated $63 million to Morgan State University, following a $40 million donation in 2020, the school announced Wednesday, per Business Insider. Scott has now donated more than $19 billion to over 2,000 nonprofits since 2019, per Fortune.