The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently contributed $10 million to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, expected to open in late 2015 on the National Mall in Washington. The purpose of the grant is to support the capital campaign of the new museum, which is raising funds for the design and construction of its building.

The facility is to be built on a five-acre tract adjacent to the Washington Monument. The design, construction and exhibition installations are expected to cost about $500 million, half provided by congressional funding and the remainder raised by the museum. Groundbreaking for the 300,000-square-foot building is expected occur in 2012.