Ken Griffin gives $26 million to Roosevelt presidential library

Kenneth C. Griffin has given $26 million to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, Fortune reported Thursday. The gift provides the final funding needed before the library’s planned July 4, 2026, opening, a date that coincides with the 250th anniversary of the United States.

The library is being built in the North Dakota Badlands and was designed by the international architecture firm Snøhetta, according to Fortune. Fortune reported that the project will be the nation’s only carbon-neutral presidential library and is intended to reflect Roosevelt’s ties to conservation and to the Badlands, where he spent formative years.

A west wing bearing Griffin’s name

Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, which Fortune described as a $69 billion hedge fund, will have the library’s west wing named for him. In the announcement cited by Fortune, Griffin said, “In our nation’s 250-year history, few Americans have embodied the spirit of leadership as fully as Theodore Roosevelt.”

“His vision, courage, and commitment to public service left an enduring mark on our nation,” Griffin said in the announcement, according to Fortune.

Fortune reported that the donation fits within a broader pattern of Griffin’s giving to historical, civic and cultural institutions. His philanthropy has totaled an estimated $2 billion, with recipients including Harvard, the University of Chicago, Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry and the Art Institute of Chicago, according to Fortune.

• Fortune reported that Griffin has funded restoration work at the Lincoln Memorial.
• Fortune reported that he made the largest donation in the Navy SEAL Foundation’s history.
• Fortune reported that he gave $30 million to the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation.
• Fortune reported that he made the largest private gift to the Call of Duty Endowment, a veterans’ employment fund.

Constitution copies and political giving

Griffin has also spent heavily on rare documents tied to U.S. history. CNN and CNBC reported that he paid $43.2 million at Sotheby’s in 2021 for a first printing of the U.S. Constitution, outbidding ConstitutionDAO, an online group of cryptocurrency supporters that had raised money for the auction.

The New York Times reported this spring that Griffin bought the Van Sinderen copy, the only other surviving first printing of the Constitution still in private hands, for an undisclosed amount. Fortune reported that about 500 copies were printed for delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, that 13 are known to survive, and that 11 are held by institutions such as the Library of Congress and the National Archives.

Fortune reported that Griffin has loaned both privately held copies for public display. One went to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where Griffin also gave $15 million, the largest single gift in that organization’s history, according to Fortune. The other was loaned to the South Street Seaport Museum in New York for an exhibition called “The Promise of Liberty: Words That Shaped a Nation.”

Griffin remains a major Republican donor. Fortune reported that he spent more than $100 million on conservative candidates during the 2024 election cycle but did not back Donald Trump. Politico reported that Griffin criticized Trump’s tariff policy at the Milken Institute Global Conference in May 2025, saying it had “regretfully—already unleashed an era of crony capitalism.”

Bloomberg reported that Griffin gave $5 million in May 2026 to the Congressional Leadership Fund, which supports House Republicans. Fortune reported that his criticism of the administration’s economic direction has continued even as he resumed giving to Republican groups.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.