The United Negro College Fund announced a donation of $100 million from the Lilly Endowment Inc., the single largest unrestricted gift to the organization since its founding 80 years ago.
The gift announced Thursday will go toward a pooled endowment for the 37 historically Black colleges and universities that form UNCF's membership, with the goal of boosting the schools' long-term financial stability.
HBCUs, which have compared with other colleges, have seen an since the racial justice protests spurred by the killing of in Minnesota. Michael Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF, said donors today no longer question the need for HBCUs and instead ask how gifts to the schools can have the largest impact.
The chairman and CEO of the Lilly Endowment said the gift continues the organization's history of supporting UNCF鈥檚 work. 鈥淭he UNCF programs we have helped fund in the past have been successful, and we are confident that the efforts to be supported by this bold campaign will have a great impact on UNCF鈥檚 member institutions and their students鈥 lives,鈥 N. Clay Robbins said in a statement.
The Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment provides financial support for coverage of religion and philanthropy at The Associated Press.
Lomax said he hopes other philanthropies will take note of the trust Lilly put in UNCF's vision by making an unrestricted gift.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e trusting the judgment of the United Negro College Fund to make a decision about where best to deploy this very significant and sizable gift,鈥 Lomax said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 get a lot of gifts like that.鈥
As part of a $1 billion capital campaign, UNCF aims to raise $370 million for a shared endowment, Lomax said. For some UNCF schools, the gift from the Lilly Endowment alone, when split across all member organizations, will double the size of their individual endowments.
On a per-pupil basis, private non-HBCU endowments are about seven times the size of private HBCU endowments, according to a report from The Century Foundation. For public schools, the non-HBCU institutions on average have a per-pupil endowment that is three times larger than their public HBCU counterparts.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have the same asset base that private non-HBCUs have,鈥 Lomax said. HBCUs lack "a strong balance sheet as a result. And they don鈥檛 really have the ability to invest in the things that they think are important.鈥
Schools with substantial unrestricted financial resources are better able to weather crises and invest in large expenses that have long-term impact, such as infrastructure repairs.
The financial disparities between and their counterparts, in many ways, mirror the racial wealth gap between Black and white families, particularly in the ability to create lasting wealth. The pooled endowment, Lomax said, is meant to provide some of that stability to member schools.
鈥淏lack families have fewer assets than non-Black families,鈥 Lomax said. 鈥淭hey live paycheck to paycheck. Many of our smaller HBCUs live on the tuition revenue semester by semester. They need a cushion. This is that cushion.鈥
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The story has been updated to correct to the Lilly Endowment, from the Lilly Foundation, on one reference.
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The Associated Press鈥 education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP鈥檚 for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at .
