MacKenzie Scott has made a $40 million donation to the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, literally doubling down on her ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The donation is twice the size of Scott’s previous donation to the same organization in 2021 and represents 20% of the organization’s fundraising so far. It comes just days after Scott made a $42 million gift to 10,000 degrees, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding college access for low-income and largely non-white students.
The Action Fund, a division of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, announced on Wednesday that Scott’s latest gift stands as the largest single contribution in the organization’s history. “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,” said Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.
Scott’s website, Yield Giving, posted a new essay on October 15, noting that several new donations are forthcoming and will be reported on, but their impact goes beyond news headlines: “When my next cycle of gifts is posted to my database online, the dollar total will likely be reported in the news, but any dollar amount is a vanishingly tiny fraction of the personal expressions of care being shared into the world this year.”
Reinforcing DEI Amid National Retrenchment
Scott’s $40 million donation arrives at a critical moment. The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, launched in 2017, is the largest privately funded resource dedicated to the preservation of sites associated with Black history in the United States. To date, the Fund has raised nearly $200 million and supported more than 378 preservation projects nationwide, including churches, museums, homes, and architectural landmarks significant to the Black experience. This pales in comparison to the funding requests it has received: thousands of preservation projects, collectively valued at more than $1.2 billion. Fewer than 2% of the nearly 95,000 places listed in the National Register of Historic Places represent the Black historical experience, underscoring what advocates describe as an urgent need for investment in Black cultural preservation.
Scott’s move comes at a time when many organizations are facing political and financial pressure to reduce DEI efforts, with one in five major corporations cutting their budgets for such initiatives in 2025, according to Resume.org. By doubling her prior investment, Scott has sent a symbolic and substantive message that investing in cultural equity and recognition is essential.
“Thank you to MacKenzie Scott for her far-reaching vision and for recognizing the purpose and singular impact of the Action Fund,” said Carol Quillen, President and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Scott’s Signature Philanthropy Style
Scott has committed to giving away the 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 more than $19 billion to over 2,000 nonprofits, with about $110 million directed specifically to DEI causes in the past year alone. Her model is characterized by trust-based philanthropy: large, unrestricted gifts made with minimal bureaucracy. Her website states, “Communities have always led their own preservation. We’re simply supporting those who already know what needs protecting.”
In a period marked by uncertainty and debate about the value of DEI, Scott’s $40 million gift is a high-profile affirmation and a significant boost for the battle to preserve Black heritage for future generations.
