Habitat for Humanity receives $436 million donation from MacKenzie Scott

2022-03-24T14:09:00-04:00

MacKenzie Scott has donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity International and 84 of its U.S. affiliates — the largest publicly disclosed donation from the billionaire philanthropist since she pledged in 2019 to give away the majority of her wealth.

Over the next three to four years, Habitat for Humanity International will use a $25 million portion of the donation to address the global housing crisis at scale, with the remaining $411 set to be distributed among the organization’s local affiliates. Habitat for Humanity International CEO Jonathan Reckford says the money will be used to increase the supply of affordable housing, especially in communities of color. Local affiliates will focus on projects in their communities, and the international group will work on broader advocacy and efforts to build homes for working-class families.

“We could not be more excited to get the gift at a time when, in some ways, the state of housing affordability is the worst that it has been in modern times,” Reckford told The Associated Press.

African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund receives $20 million grant from MacKenzie Scott as part of a $2.7 billion overall gift

2021-06-21T17:25:00-04:00

The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund has been awarded a $20 million grant from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott in an unprecedented move that will nearly double the amount of funding the organization has received since its inception in 2017.

Scott’s grant was announced in a Medium post she authored, which outlines some of her motivations for supporting causes with a progressive social agenda.

The donation is part of a larger $2.7 billion gift Scott and husband Dan Jewett gave to a variety of arts organizations with a focus on African diasporic cultural concerns, including the Souls Grow Deep Foundation and the Studio Museum in Harlem, which is currently undergoing a radical transformation at the hands of Adjaye Associates.

Holmes Hall at Morgan State University. Image courtesy Baltimore Heritage.

The money will allow the fund to pursue its stated goals of promoting a “national identity that reflects the nation’s true diversity...

Archinect - News

Habitat for Humanity receives $436 million donation from MacKenzie Scott

African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund receives $20 million grant from MacKenzie Scott as part of a $2.7 billion overall gift