Columbia, MD (November 18, 2024) – Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise) today announced a historic $65 million grant from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, marking her second major donation to the non-profit. Building on Scott’s initial 2020 donation of $50 million, Enterprise now joins a select group of organizations to receive multiple contributions from Scott. The gift reflects the impact and scale of Enterprise’s programs that create and preserve affordable housing, the organization’s essential role in solving the nation’s housing crisis, and validation of Enterprise’s unique model combining a nationwide investment platform with one of the largest housing advocacy operations in the country.
Housing affordability continues to impact millions of Americans and remains top of mind for communities across the country. Scott’s gift – one of the largest reported gifts to an affordable housing organization – serves as a vote of confidence in Enterprise’s work, as well as a call to action to other investors and philanthropists who seek to create tangible progress addressing one of the country’s pernicious issues. This funding comes as Enterprise celebrates the creation and preservation of one million affordable homes for low and moderate-income Americans, a milestone achieved through its five decades of work.
“Housing affordability is on the national radar in a way that it’s never been in my three decades of work in this field,” said Shaun Donovan, CEO and President of Enterprise Community Partners. “There is growing bipartisan consensus over the need to address this crisis, and MacKenzie Scott’s continued support reaffirms the importance of Enterprise’s mission. This gift will allow us to expand and accelerate our work, delivering community-based and sustainable housing solutions to the people and places that need them most.”
Scott’s initial donation was key to executing Enterprise’s 2020-2025 strategic plan, attracting additional seed funding and investment that allowed the organization to launch innovative pilot programs tailored to communities in need, expand program capacity and, in 2023 alone, provide $2.3 million in rental assistance. Over $20 million was allocated to Enterprise’s Equitable Path Forward, a $3.5 billion initiative supporting historically marginalized housing providers, Renter Wealth Creation Fund programs offering monthly cash back payments, and growing resident services focused on community-building and engagement. The funds also deepened Enterprise’s work with Native American communities including enabling the launch of the Native American Advisory Council, which hosts annual convenings and provides membership organizations with grants of $25,000, and amplifying capacity building support to tribal regional and statewide coalitions.
This larger grant represents a longer-term investment – allowing Enterprise to tackle their next, five-year strategic plan by bolstering the organization's program capacity while tackling pressing challenges at an even greater scale, independent of a changing fundraising, investment, and governing environment. This includes creating climate-resilient communities across the country and addressing growing supply constraints through programs focused on developing underutilized land for affordable homes.
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About Enterprise Community Partners
Enterprise is a national nonprofit that exists to make a good home possible for the millions of families without one. We support community development organizations on the ground, aggregate and invest capital for impact, advance housing policy at every level of government, and build and manage communities ourselves. Since 1982, we have invested $72 billion and created 1 million homes across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands – all to make home and community places of pride, power and belonging. Join us at enterprisecommunity.org.