Category Archives: Philanthropy

School Name: Tougaloo College

Median Cost of Attendance: $16 112

Undergraduate Population: 945

Endowment Needed: $304 516 800

Analysis: Tougaloo College needs approximately $305 million for all of its students to attend debt free annually. The amazing part of this is the number is that the school does not need that much. With its current endowment around $10 million it is not completely unfeasible to believe this amount could be accomplished within a decade. As with the other HBCUs in Mississippi it faces the demographic issues of the others. High levels of poverty in the state make it very difficult to build a large endowment for any higher education institution. It is often magnified within the HBCU sphere. Another major headwind is the student body size. Tougaloo simply is not producing a large enough number of students to create income power. The school has an excellent reputation among the inner HBCU circles but like many of the smaller HBCUs has a hard to leaving its footprint among the mainstream of African America. It is geographically close to Louisiana, which presents another problem area it must deal with. At the same token it also presents opportunity to influence parts of southeastern Louisiana. The enrollment at the school needs to grow at least double its current size, even healthier would be a growth of 150 percent in order for it to really make significant strides in earning power and potential donors. The school and its endowment are extremely well run for a school its size and thus as it continues down its current path, with any growth in demographics in its favor could see it becoming a major player in the HBCU endowment space.

As always it should be noted that endowments provide a myriad of subsidies to the university for everything from scholarship, faculty & administration salaries, research, and much more.

School Name: Coahoma Community College

Median Cost of Attendance: $7 054

Undergraduate Population: 2 216

Endowment Needed: $312 633 280

Analysis: Coahoma Community College needs an approximately $313 million endowment for all of its students to attend debt free annually. The school is located in Clarksdale, MS where almost 55 percent of the 20 000 plus population is African American. HBCUs in Mississippi either 2 year or 4 year face serious demographic issues in major part due to the median income for African Americans in the state being below the national poverty income.However, CCC is positioned with over 10 percent of the town’s population to greatly influence the public funding towards the institution. The ability to build its endowment could largely lie in it building intimate relationship with a number of HBCUs in the region and supplying them with quality graduates. With the growing importance of two year institutions as college grows more and more expensive and yet necessary, the influx of students through two year institutions will continue to spike. Coahoma Community College would be well served to create programs that are both four year tracks as well as tracks for non-academic careers like electricians, plumbers, and the advancing green job movement. However, it must do so with two things in mind. First, it must create a social connection for the students. They must feel that CCC was integral in their college experience whether they graduated at two years or went on to a four year. Secondly, and just as important for those focused on the two year track and non-academic studies they must offer a study in entrepreneurship for it. Not just teaching one to become an electrician but how to own and operate an electrician firm. Given that generational wealth is created via ownership of companies and firms this would ensure their students are job and wealth creators. This in turn will produce potential donors in the future that are intimately connected to the school.

School Name: Southern University and A&M College

Median Cost of Attendance: $18 209

Undergraduate Population: 5 765

Endowment Needed: $2 099 497 760

Analysis: Southern University and A&M College needs approximately $2.1 billion for all of its undergraduates to attend debt free annually. There might be no school more difficult to understand in terms of endowment analysis amongst HBCUs than Southern University. It is home to arguably one of the most fiercely loyal alumni bases there is amongst HBCUs and yet its endowment has not breached the $10 million mark. It is the only HBCU with a system of campuses. Something many HBCUs sit in quiet and envy wishing to have. It also home to one of the SWAC’s two law schools. Something that has helped Texas Southern University, the other SWAC school with a law school, become the largest endowment in the conference. It is no secret that Southern University is in by far the most openly hostile state for HBCUs with Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal almost making a daily mission to crumble every public HBCU in the state. That being said Southern University also boast one of the former governors of Louisiana among its law school alumni. The law school also boast a 40 percent European American population raising questions once again about an over emphasis by HBCUs on ethnic diversity and those alum having no real emotional investment in the mission of the HBCU. Its lack of giving from its undergraduate alumni is another story and what seems to suggest a real lack of engagement by Southern’s leadership and its alumni. Despite being located in one of the poorer states in the United States and therefore having demographics of income and wealth working against it, a school like Southern with such a rabid alumni base should be able to make up in quantity what it can not provide in qualified donations. Southern University should be a top 10 endowment. Should be. The fact that it is not speaks to a leadership void from administration to alumni. It must also continue to form a political strategy that sends shots back the way of those in the state intent on its dilution otherwise it could see a hostile political situation become nuclear. If it can find a way to gain some footing on both accounts we could see the meteoric rise of arguably the most underachieving endowment in HBCU nation into a superstar.

As always it should be noted that endowments provide a myriad of subsidies to the university for everything from scholarship, faculty & administration salaries, research, and much more.