Boston Holocaust Museum Receives $2 Million Donation

The gift represents one of the largest philanthropic commitments to the museum and the largest gifts from the Davis Foundation to date.

By Benjamin Pierce, Patch Staff

Oct 28, 2026 5:06 PM EDT

BOSTON, MA — Holocaust Museum Boston has received a $2 million gift from the Boston-based Davis Family Charitable Foundation, according to an announcement from the museum.

The donation represents one of the largest philanthropic commitments to the museum and the largest gift from the foundation to date. The gift brings the museum's fundraising total to $81 million toward a $110 million goal.

The museum is under construction on Tremont Street overlooking Boston's Freedom Trail and is scheduled to open in summer 2027. Organizers said it will be New England's first museum solely dedicated to Holocaust education, with exhibitions and programs focused on preserving the history of the Holocaust and helping visitors recognize and confront antisemitism and other forms of hatred.

"We are deeply grateful to the Davis Family Charitable Foundation for this extraordinary commitment to Holocaust Museum Boston," Holocaust Legacy Foundation Co-Founder, President, and CEO Jody Kipnis said in a statement. "This generous gift is an investment not only in preserving history, but in educating future generations, inspiring moral courage, and empowering individuals to recognize the difference they can make in the world."

Once complete, the museum will feature immersive exhibitions, historical artifacts, survivor testimony, and educational programs. Through firsthand testimony and historical accounts of persecution, resistance, and moral courage, the museum aims to help visitors connect the history of the Holocaust to their own choices and actions.

"We were inspired by the vision of the founders of Holocaust Museum Boston to preserve the memory of the Holocaust's atrocities and to draw on those lessons to recognize and confront antisemitism and hatred of others wherever they arise, now and in the future," Davis Family Charitable Foundation Executive Director Molly Davis Macleod said.

Macleod pointed to the museum's location near Park Street Station, the Massachusetts State House, and Boston City Hall as a way to reach a wide audience. She added that museum staff are already working with schools across Massachusetts to incorporate Holocaust education into their curricula.

Since 2006, the Davis Family Charitable Foundation has supported organizations focused on education, housing, healthcare, and other community needs. The foundation also supports efforts to combat antisemitism, racism, poverty, and other forms of exclusion.