On Presidents’ Day, in February 2016, Mr. Rubenstein announced his gift to restore the Lincoln Memorial, which was constructed between 1914 and 1922. The donation to the National Park Foundation’s Centennial Campaign for America’s National Parks will allow the National Park Service to repair damaged brick and marble masonry and clean the memorial; conserve the Jules Guérin murals located above the memorial’s inscriptions; create approximately 15,000 square feet of functional space including exhibit, education and research areas; and add an elevator to improve accessibility.

A $10 million donation from Rubenstein to the National Park Foundation will dramatically improve the visitor experience at the Jefferson Memorial. The gift will fund a completely new and expanded state-of-the-art museum in the memorial, incorporating new designs with tactile and auditory elements and providing more perspectives as it shares Jefferson’s multi-faceted story. In addition, new exhibits will be designed with universal accessibility in mind.

David Rubenstein’s gift enables the National Park Service to engage visitors in a more dynamic, hands-on experience that explores the complexity of Thomas Jefferson’s life,” said Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation. “Thanks to his generous support, visitors of all ages will have a fuller understanding of Jefferson and his impact on American democracy and culture.

In August 2011, the Washington Monument was forced to close after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck Washington, DC. The quake caused significant damage, including more than 150 cracks, spalls and displacements of stones and joints throughout the structure.

Mr. Rubenstein contributed half of the funds needed for repairing the monument, and Congress allocated the other half. The donation, which was made to the Trust for the National Mall, was the largest individual gift in the trust’s history. The restoration work began in late 2012, and the Washington Monument reopened on May 12, 2014, serving as a model for other successful public-private partnerships with the federal government.

Since 1923, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation has worked to restore Monticello, acquire and preserve original plantation lands, and expand educational programs, on and off site. David M. Rubenstein’s leadership support of The Mountaintop Project—the Foundation’s multi-year effort to restore Monticello as Jefferson knew it—accelerated efforts to share a more complete story of all the people—enslaved and free—who lived on the 5,000-acre plantation.

In February 2013, in honor of Washington’s birthday, Mr. Rubenstein made a contribution toward the Washington Library’s construction and endowment. The gift directed funds toward the establishment of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Books and Manuscripts Endowment, enabling Mount Vernon to grow and sustain its collection of original volumes and documents. Mr. Rubenstein also generously provided the seed funding for a new initiative, the Mount Vernon Fellows Program, to bring college students from across the country to Mount Vernon to study Washington’s lessons of leadership. The program is designed to identify and nurture a next generation of leaders.

In November 2014, Mr. Rubenstein made a gift to the Montpelier Foundation that led to the creation of the Rubenstein Initiative at James Madison’s Montpelier, a five-year plan to refurnish and interpret the Montpelier mansion and reconstruct the South Yard, the enslaved community site adjacent to the mansion. The projects have been strategic priorities for Montpelier for more than a decade, and the Rubenstein Initiative makes it possible to offer visitors a more complete version of the story of American liberty—with its equal attention to furnishing and interpreting the home of one of the country’s foremost political thinkers and to telling the story of the enslaved community that lived and worked in his household.