Billionaire Ken Griffin is donating $30 million to the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation, a Texas-based organization built around the highest U.S. military decoration for valor.
The funds will be used in the museum’s leadership institute, which will be named after Griffin and include a 220-seat theater and conference center, and to provide national educational programming, the foundation said. Construction of the museum is slated for completion in early 2025 in Arlington, Texas, midway between Dallas and Fort Worth.
“Ken’s gift is allowing us to develop content for early elementary school all the way through high school,” said Chris Cassidy, the foundation’s CEO. “Our difference is that we’re very much focused on the values of the Medal of Honor, courage, sacrifice, patriotism and the like.”
The Texas gift shows the increasing breadth of Griffin’s philanthropy, now under the Griffin Catalyst banner. During the past 12 months alone, Harvard renamed a school for the founder of Citadel and Citadel Securities after a $300 million donation, while a Miami children’s hospital kicked off construction of the Kenneth C. Griffin Surgical Tower.
Griffin has given away more than $2 billion over the past 30 years, saying one of his core priorities is strengthening American freedoms and promoting civic engagement. He purchased a first-edition copy of the U.S. Constitution for $43.2 million and then had it shown at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Griffin has a net worth of $35.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
“I am proud to support the National Medal of Honor Institute and its mission to inspire people with the Medal of Honor values and to realize their full potential,” Griffin said.
The museum foundation’s chair, Charlotte Jones, daughter of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones; and Matt Zames, former COO at JPMorgan Chase & Co., helped orchestrate Griffin’s donation.
Griffin’s getting a shoutout at the Cowboys game Nov. 12. The team’s stadium is near the site of the Medal of Honor Museum.
“It is an incredible honor to have Ken Griffin as part of this amazing mission to inspire America,” Jones said. “He has a true understanding of how precious and fragile democracy is.”