( ENSPIRE Community Spotlight ) Historic Gift to UNCF Strengthens Financial Sustainability For 37 HBCUs Through Pooled Endowment
ENSPIRE Contributor: Kirah Smith
Photo Credit: Dia Dipasupil/Kevork Djansezian/Todd Williamson/Getty Images
Grammy-level philanthropy has a new chapter. MacKenzie Scott has donated $70 million to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to finance a pooled endowment purpose-built to support all 37 of its historically Black colleges and universities.
The gift is part of UNCF’s larger $1 billion campaign to strengthen these institutions, working to ensure financial sustainability, resources for students, and greater equity in higher education. Each of the 37 schools will receive a $5 million stake in the pooled endowment, which UNCF will help them match with an additional $5 million, so that each school holds a $10 million endowment.
Photo by Kevork Djansezian (Getty Images)
The fund will be invested to generate approximately 4% annual returns, with those earnings distributed to member institutions to help alleviate budget instability. This is vital, UNCF leadership says, since many HBCU endowments are significantly smaller than those of non-HBCU institutions, and the disparity has long impeded growth, resources, and support for students.
UNCF President & CEO Michael L. Lomax called the gift “a once-in-a-generation opportunity” to build “permanent assets that will support students and campuses for decades to come.” Scott, known for her sizable, often unrestricted gifts, has a history of supporting HBCUs; this newest donation brings her contributions to UNCF to roughly $80 million in total.
Photo by Todd Williamson (Getty Images)
In short, this gift does more than inject capital; it signals confidence in HBCUs, their missions, and their futures. For students, faculty, and alumni, it’s a meaningful stride toward closing long-standing inequities in higher education funding.
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