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Real Estate|MacKenzie Scott Gives $40 Million to Help Preserve Black History
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/realestate/mackenzie-scott-donation-black-history.html
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MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire philanthropist, on Wednesday donated $40 million to a program dedicated to the preservation of African American history, culture and activism.
The gift is her second contribution to the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a division of the nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation. In 2021, Ms. Scott, who has pledged to divest her Amazon fortune, valued at $41.2 billion, according to Bloomberg, donated $20 million to the fund, which was used to support a range of projects and operations. The fund will use this latest donation to grow its endowment and invest in new and existing programs.
“The gift will not only support hundreds of critical preservation projects across the nation, but will also help financially secure the action fund’s future and our ability to continue protecting and expanding the American story,” said Brent Leggs, the executive director of the fund.
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The action fund, started in 2017, is the largest privately funded resource in the United States dedicated to preserving historically significant African American heritage sites, including churches, museums, homes, and architecture. To date, the fund has raised nearly $200 million, supporting more than 378 preservation projects.
Places of historical significance to African American culture have often been overlooked among preservationists. Only 2 percent of the 95,000 sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places focus on the Black experience, according to the fund.
