The results of philanthropy are beyond calculation, but they are calculated. – William A. Foster, IV
After 2020 gave us unprecedented major giving to HBCUs, the fairy dust wore off just as quickly come 2021. Had this year been not followed by 2020, then arguably it would be a good year by normal standards. Instead, it is a harsh reminder that HBCUs rarely on any level receive an equitable share of funding both by state and federal governments and private giving to colleges and universities. 2020’s giving it could be argued was a response to the protests and social unrest that spilled over from the death of George Floyd. However, as we stated previously that is neither sustainable and questionably moral. This year’s list while significantly smaller looks much the same as last year in that it is buoyance is upheld by donors outside of the African American community.
HBCUs were able to pull in three percent of the million plus donations to all colleges and universities, which constitutes their makeup in the overall landscape of the higher education system. However, the value of those donations amounted to less than one percent of the overall donation value to colleges and universities. A significant drop off from 2020’s astounding 15 percent of donation value. Very interested to note that PWIs saw donations of $100 million plus double from 2020 to 2021 going from seven to fourteen. No HBCU has ever seen a nine-figure donation and there are only a handful of African Americans capable of doing so. This once again leaves the fate of African American NPOs in the hands of other community’s wealth and generosity. It also begs the question for the survival of HBCUs in particular long-term. Despite 2020’s gifts, we would be remiss to act as if one year of donations can rectify over one hundred plus years of negligence and fiscal hostility.
MacKenzie Scott continued to be HBCUs’ best friend with two of the ten donations on the list coming from her philanthropy. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler’s donation is one of the largest alumni gifts (if not the largest) ever to an HBCU. Worthy of a conversation itself is that HBCUs are still not producing a pipeline of wealthy alumni. Something critical to increasing the probability of transformative donors into HBCU coffers. With only two known HBCU billionaires among all of its alumni, the question of “Can HBCUs Produce Billionaires?” remains not only a relevant question, but an absolutely necessary conversation that must be had between HBCU alumni and administrations.
$1 Million Plus Donations To All Colleges: 316
$100 Million Plus Donations To All Colleges: 14
$1 Million Plus Donations Value To All Colleges: $8.1 Billion
$1 Million Plus Median Donation To All Colleges: $11.1 Million
$1 Million Plus Average Donation To All Colleges: $25.5 Million
$1 Million Plus Donations To HBCUs: 10
$100 Million Plus Donations To HBCUs: 0
$1 Million Plus Donations Value To HBCUs: $66.7 Million
$1 Million Plus Median Donation To HBCUs: $4.0 Million
$1 Million Plus Average Donation To HBCUs: $6.7 Million
HBCU Percentage of Donations To All Colleges: 3.2%
HBCU Percentage of Donation Value To All Colleges: 0.8%
1. MacKenzie Scott – $20 million Recipient: Charles R. Drew Medicine Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
2. Calvin E. Tyler and Tina Tyler (pictured bottom right) – $20 million Recipient: Morgan State University Source of Wealth: N/A
3. S. Donald Sussman – $6 million Recipient: University of the Virgin Islands Source of Wealth: Finance
4. Eddie Brown and Sylvia Brown(pictured bottom left) – $5 million Recipient: Howard University Source of Wealth: Investments
5. Anonymous Donor – $5 million Recipient: Howard University Source of Wealth: N/A
6. Shervin Pishevar and Sarah Pishevar Haynes – $3 million Recipient: Howard University Source of Wealth: Technology, Finance, Transportation
7. Frank Garrison and Amy Garrison – $2.5 million Recipient: Fisk University Source of Wealth: Finance, Real Estate, Law
8. Anonymous Donor – $2.2 million Recipient: Alabama A&M University Source of Wealth: N/A
9. MacKenzie Scott – $2 million Recipient: Meharry Medical College Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
10. Mark Malveaux and Dawn Malveaux (pictured top) – $1 million Recipient: Southern University System Source of Wealth: Law
Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving. – Erma Bombeck
The year of George Floyd’s death and the European American guilt that accompanied it can be argued was the catalyst that led to the largest flurry of million dollar plus donations to HBCUs ever seen and it was led almost solely by one woman – MacKenzie Scott, the quietly known co-founder of Amazon who has emerged as a powerhouse in the world of philanthropy. Of the reported 37 donations of $1 million or more as reported by the Chronicle of Philanthropy to HBCUs, Ms. Scott is responsible for 22 of them. Her donation to Prairie View A&M University was the largest in the school’s history and the largest ever to a public HBCU. Questions of where the money actually ends up and who is managing it given Prairie View’s relationship to Texas A&M are worth investigation by PVAMU alumni. All the same, HBCU endowments began 2020 standing at approximately $2.1 billion combined. 2020’s million dollar plus donations to HBCUs are equivalent to roughly 33 percent of that – in one year. To put in perspective, these donations to HBCUs in 2020 were greater than Howard University’s 150 plus year old endowment and would be the equivalent of someone donating approximately $15 billion to Harvard’s endowment, which Ms. Scott actually could do. Again, unprecedented.
We have expanded our review of the data collected to include more information regarding those major donations to HBCUs as well as their presence in the overall landscape of major donations to all colleges and universities. Are HBCUs getting their share? Although HBCUs make up three percent of the United States higher education ecosystem, they do not tend to receive three percent of the philanthropic donations or value. This year breaks the mold with HBCUs receiving over 11 percent of the major donations and over 15 percent of the major donation value. Unprecedented is putting it mildly. While this infusion is beyond needed and could not come at a better time as many higher education institutions across the country are having real questions of future and long-term fiscal viability, those with well position endowments have far less to worry about in their ability to have the resources necessary to pivot in an ever changing education landscape. Despite this landslide of donations, there are still no HBCUs with a $1 billion endowment or more. Howard University is still leading the way and looking like the inevitable first, but after Howard and Spelman, there are a myriad of questions and concerns as to the endowment health of every other HBCU.
Despite no African American having the wealth to give at the scale of MacKenzie Scott, it still begs the question of where are the African American wealthy in making major donations to HBCUs on a more consistent and sustainable basis. Only 4 of the 37 donations on 2020’s list come from African American families. George Floyd’s death was clearly a catalyst for much of this giving to African American institutions in 2020, but relying on Black death as a means to spur major giving is morally problematic and acutely unsustainable. There is no reason that this list every year is not made up of predominantly African Diaspora and African American households. For reasons that are complex though, that has still yet to happen. It is also worth noting which schools received donations. While the usual suspects of Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Howard University are there, one-third of the donations went to public HBCUs whom rarely find themselves in the philanthropic spotlight. Lesser known, but just as important HBCUs like Claflin University, Lincoln University (PA), and Xavier University (LA) also showed up. A vital need is for the smaller HBCUs to receive major gifts, HBCUs like Texas College, Florida Memorial University, Virginia University at Lynchburg also badly need to receive major gifts to shore up their fiscal futures. African American households must be the one to lead that charge if major giving to HBCUs is to be burning bright tomorrow and not just a firecracker today.
$1 Million Plus Donations To All Colleges: 329
$100 Million Plus Donations To All Colleges: 7
$1 Million Plus Donations Value To All Colleges: $4.7 Billion
$1 Million Plus Median Donation To All Colleges: $6.0 Million
$1 Million Plus Average Donation To All Colleges: $14.4 Million
$1 Million Plus Donations To HBCUs: 37*
$100 Million Plus Donations To HBCUs: 0
$1 Million Plus Donations Value To HBCUs: $716.7 Million
$1 Million Plus Median Donation To HBCUs: $20.0 Million
$1 Million Plus Average Donation To HBCUs: $19.4 Million
HBCU Percentage of Donations To All Colleges: 11.2%
HBCU Percentage of Donation Value To All Colleges: 15.2%
1. MacKenzie Scott (pictured) – $50 million Recipient: Prairie View A&M University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
2.MacKenzie Scott– $45 million Recipient: North Carolina A&T State University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
3. Reed Hastings & Patty Quillin – $40 million Recipient: Morehouse College Source of Wealth: Technology
4. Reed Hastings & Patty Quillin – $40 million Recipient: Spelman College Source of Wealth: Technology
5.Reed Hastings & Patty Quillin– $40 million Recipient: United Negro College Fund Source of Wealth: Technology
6.MacKenzie Scott– $40 million Recipient: Morgan State University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
7. MacKenzie Scott – $40 million Recipient: Norfolk State University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
8.MacKenzie Scott– $40 million Recipient: Howard University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
9.MacKenzie Scott– $30 million Recipient: Virginia State University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
10.MacKenzie Scott– $30 million Recipient: Winston-Salem State University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
11.MacKenzie Scott– $30 million Recipient: Hampton University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
12.MacKenzie Scott– $25 million Recipient: Alcorn State University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
13.MacKenzie Scott– $25 million Recipient: Bowie State University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
14. MacKenzie Scott – $20 million Recipient: Claflin University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
15.MacKenzie Scott– $20 million Recipient: Delaware State University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
16.MacKenzie Scott– $20 million Recipient: Lincoln University (PA) Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
17.MacKenzie Scott– $20 million Recipient: Tuskegee University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
18. MacKenzie Scott – $20 million Recipient: Xavier University (Louisiana) Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
19. MacKenzie Scott – $20 million Recipient: Morehouse College Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
20.MacKenzie Scott– $20 million Recipient: University of Maryland-Eastern Shore Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
21.MacKenzie Scott– $20 million Recipient: Spelman College Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
22.MacKenzie Scott – $15 million Recipient: Clark Atlanta University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
23.MacKenzie Scott – $15 million Recipient: Elizabeth City State University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
24. Anonymous Donor – $10 million Recipient: Prairie View A&M University Source of Wealth: N/A
25. Bruce Karsh and Martha Karsh – $10 million Recipient: Howard University Source of Wealth: Finance
26. Seth Klarman and Beth Klarman – $10 million Recipient: Spelman College Source of Wealth: Finance
27.MacKenzie Scott– $6 million Recipient: Tougaloo College Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
28.MacKenzie Scott– $5 million Recipient: Dillard University Source of Wealth: Technology, Retail
29. Oprah Winfrey – $2 million Recipient: Tennessee State University Source of Wealth: Media & Entertainment
30. Matthew Cullinan and Anna Reilly – $1.7 million Recipient: Winston-Salem State University Source of Wealth: Education
31. Jim Murren and Heather Murren – $1 million Recipient: Howard University Source of Wealth: Finance
32. Charles Butt – $1 million Recipient: Prairie View A&M University Source of Wealth: Retail
33. Charles Barkley – $1 million Recipient: Miles College Source of Wealth: Entertainment
34. Kenneth Chenault and Kathryn Chenault – $1 million Recipient: Morehouse College Source of Wealth: Finance
35. Joan Johnson – $1 million Recipient: Spelman College Source of Wealth: Retail
36. Frank Baker & Laura Day – $1 million Recipient: Spelman College Source of Wealth: Finance
37. Charles Barkley – $1 million Recipient: Tuskegee University Source of Wealth: Entertainment
Source: Chronicle of Philanthropy
*Michael Bloomberg’s pledge of $100 million in 2020 to the 4 HBCU medical schools was not included in our list which was sourced strictly from the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
In the fourth HBCU Money report on the SWAC/MEAC’s athletic finances, there has been one trend that is consistent – an acute amount of red on the balance sheet of each respective HBCU as it pertains to their athletic departments and it continues to grow redder and redder. Since HBCU Money first began reporting the SWAC/MEAC Athletic Financial Review, there have been losses of $128.6 million (2014-2015), $147.1 million (2016-2017), $150.7 million (2017-2018), and this year they continue their trend of the athletic black hole with losses over $161 million through athletics with no correction in sight. Not exactly the cash generating juggernauts that HBCU alumni have in mind when it comes to how deeply many believe that athletics can be the financial savior to HBCU financial prosperity. Instead, athletics seems to be potentially at the crux of many HBCU financial woes. Almost unfathomable is that many in the SWAC/MEAC have athletic budgets higher than their research budgets.
The harsh reality is that even with all the popularity buzz generated by Jackson State University’s head football coach, Deion Sanders, the factors working against HBCU athletics ever achieving real profitability remains a pipe dream at best. To land a major television contract, which is the only reason on mass that the SEC and Big 10 are the profitable athletic programs they are requires something that HBCU alumni bases severely lack. Large fan bases that have high incomes and an affluence. The harsh reality that HBCUs have small alumni bases, a reality that has been exacerbated post-desegregation where now HBCUs only get 9 percent of African Americans in college, combined with African America having both the lowest median income and wealth do not make for a recipe for advertisers to pay top dollar to television stations who would then healthily compensate HBCU institutions. HBCU athletics can be profitable, but it requires a completely different business model than our PWI counterparts. See, “The 5 Steps To HBCU Athletic Profitability”.
HBCU athletic revenues went down while expenses and subsidies went up in 2019-2020. That is usually a trend all would prefer be flipped. Students continue to bear the brunt of generating HBCU athletic revenues. This year’s review shows that approximately 73 percent of HBCU athletic revenues are generated through subsidies, up from 70 percent the year prior. Something to consider when 90 percent of HBCU students graduate with student loan debt.
REVENUES (in millions)
Total: $200.4 (down 1.2% from 2017-2018)
Median: $10.3 (down 4.6% from 2017-2018)
Average: $10.6 (up 5.0% from 2017-2018)
Highest revenue: Prairie View A&M University $18.7 million
Lowest revenue: Coppin State University $2.8 million
EXPENSES (in millions)
Total: $213.0 (up 0.5% from 2017-2018)
Median: $12.5 (up 15.7% from 2017-2018)
Average: $11.2 (up 5.7% from 2017-2018)
Highest expenses: Prairie View A&M University $18.7 million
Lowest expenses: Mississippi Valley State University $3.9 million
SUBSIDY
Total: $148.4 (up 4.9% from 2017-2018)
Median: $6.4 (down 18.4% from 2017-2018)
Average: $7.1 (unchanged from 2017-2018)
Highest subsidy: Prairie View A&M University $15.5 million
Lowest subsidy: Coppin State University $1.7 million
Highest % of revenues: Delaware State University: 92.0%
Lowest % of revenues: Florida A&M University: 37.0%
PROFIT/LOSS (W/ SUBSIDY)
Total: $-12.7 million (down 40.0% from 2017-2018)
Median: $0 (up 100.0% from 2017-2018)
Average: $-666,295 (down 46.3% from 2017-2018)
Highest profit/loss: North Carolina A&T State University $615,094
Lowest profit/loss: North Carolina Central University $-6,264,082
PROFIT/LOSS (W/O SUBSIDY)
Total: $-161.0 million (down 6.8% from 2017-2018)
Median: $-9.8 million (down 40.0% from 2017-2018)
Average: $-8.5 million (down 13.3% from 2017-2018)
Highest profit/loss: Mississippi Valley State University $-2,177,123
Lowest profit/loss: Prairie View A&M University $-15,417,471
CONCLUSION: At current, it would take an approximately $4.3 billion endowment dedicated to athletics to ween the SWAC/MEAC off of these subsidies onto a sustainable path. A sum greater than all HBCU endowments combined. Perhaps through merchandise sales, Jackson State could see its way to profitability without subsidies. Perhaps, but as former HBCU alumnus and NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe recently said, “There is only one Deion Sanders”. One thing is for certain, HBCUs have not done a proper cost-benefit analysis for the money they spend and subsidize to their athletic departments nor have they explored potential alternative models.
Editor’s Note: Howard and Bethune-Cookman are excluded in this report because they are private institutions and their athletic finances were not included in this report.
If there was a short analysis of the 2021 HBCU endowment list it would be this – still not enough. Despite record breaking donations toward HBCUs from Mackenzie Scott and others in 2020-2021, the PWI-HBCU endowment gap among the Top 10 PWIs and HBCUs continues to balloon, a gap that stands at a staggering $121 to $1. This despite a 35 percent increase by the Top 10 HBCU endowments from last year. Simply put, winning the philanthropic “lottery” is not enough and it never will be when it comes to closing the endowment gap. The rabbit never beats the tortoise to put it another way. HBCUs must find a way to find consistent capital infusions over time as opposed to lighting quick one-offs.
The HBCU donor pool is simply too small and too poor (relatively speaking) to close the endowment gap. Without increasing the percentage of African Americans college students who go to HBCUs from 10 percent to 25-30 percent, it does not bode well for HBCUs to be able to close the endowment gap through traditional means. HBCUs and their alumni are going to have to be more creative and must be so expeditiously. While this is the most HBCU endowments we have ever reported with $100 million or greater, increasing from five in 2020 to seven in 2021, PWIs saw an 25 percent increase in the number of endowments over $2 billion going from 55 to 69 and an equally 25 percent rise in the number of endowments over $1 billion going from 114 to 142. This while HBCUs are still waiting for their first billion dollar endowment.
To that point, the race between Howard and Spelman is tightening. Last year’s $334 million lead that Howard held over Spelman has shrunk to $265 million. At one point it seemed a foregone conclusion that Howard would reach the milestone first (The Race To The First Billion Dollar HBCU Endowment: Can Anyone Catch Howard?), that is no longer the case. Howard’s public relations over the past year have not been favorable and while many people say all press is good press – not when you are an African American institution. With Hampton and North Carolina A&T’s departure from the MEAC, no HBCU conference (CIAA, GCAC, MEAC, SIAC, SWAC) is dominating the Top 10 and the list is split 50/50 between private and public HBCUs as well. Arguably this is the most diverse Top 10 HBCU endowment list since we first began publishing, but one thing remains feverishly consistent and that is there is a lot of work to be done to ensure HBCU endowments and therefore the institutions of HBCUs are sustainable and thriving.
*The change in market value does NOT represent the rate of return for the institution’s investments. Rather, the change in the market value of an endowment from FY20 to FY21 reflects the net impact of: 1) withdrawals to fund institutional operations and capital expenses; 2) the payment of endowment management and investment fees; 3) additions from donor gifts and other contributions; and 4) investment gains or losses.
SOURCE: NACUBO
Take a look at how an endowment works. Not only scholarships to reduce the student debt burden but research, recruiting talented faculty & students, faculty salaries, and a host of other things can be paid for through a strong endowment. It ultimately is the lifeblood of a college or university to ensure its success generation after generation.
“The human body experiences a powerful gravitational pull in the direction of hope. That is why the patient’s hopes are the physician’s secret weapon. They are the hidden ingredients in any prescription.” – Norman Cousins
The University of the Virgin Islands simply continues to impress. The HBCU that few people know or talk about as an HBCU keeps its head down and continues the vital work of African Diaspora building. In recent years, UVI has seen a meteoric rise into HBCU Money’s Top Ten HBCU Endowments seemingly out of nowhere. This time the University of the Virgin Islands leads once again showing the constitution of action and strategic planning with the creation of the HBCU Diaspora’s fifth medical school and first ever public medical school. The latter being long overdue.
While it would have been preferable that the medical school bear the name of a historical figure of African descent, Ianthe Blyden or Myrah Keating Smith, two Virgin Islander nurses who were renowned for their healthcare work. Instead, it appears the medical school will retain the name of its financial benefactor, Donald Sussman. Mr. Sussman, according to UVI’s press release, “the founder of Paloma Partners, was a member of the UVI Board of Trustees from 2008 to 2012.”
The public HBCU medical school’s importance can not be overstated. Public institutions represent a way for a group to extract their economic interest from an overall pool of funds that citizens pay into. In other words, Citizen A pays their taxes into an overall pool of taxes, politicians then decide how those funds will be disbursed to the public institutions representing the different interest of the citizenry. The problem that has plagued the interests of African Americans is that we pay into the system, but rarely have public institutions that are able to leverage pulling out funds from the pool to meet our social and economic needs. In this case, that social need is a vast investment in our health outcomes. UVI’s medical school will allow African Americans a significantly more affordable route to the community’s production of medical doctors and health professionals than can currently be offered by private institutions. That is because public institutions, through that tax pool, are able to subsidize the cost of the education they are providing. The lack of a public HBCU medical school has meant that many African American doctors are often forced to go after hospital positions that are well paid and more likely to cater to non-African American patients or medical facilities upon finishing medical school. Community health clinics become out of the question with six-figure student loan debts.
How dire is the situation for African American doctors and health professionals? Asian Americans have 1 doctor for every 117 people in its population, European Americans have 1 doctor for every 457 people in its population, and African Americans have 1 doctor for every 914 people in its population. Institutionally speaking, there is only one African American owned hospital left as well, run and operated by Howard University.
There is an over 25 percent greater chance if you are African American ages 18-49 that you will not see a doctor because of costs to our white counterparts and a 50 percent chance if you are 50-64 that you will not see a doctor because of cost compared to our white counterparts according to statistics gathered by the American Community Survey from 2014. It is without a doubt that the COVID-19 Pandemic and Recession has probably only exacerbated those statistics. With other factors impacting African American health such as unemployment which means no insurance, poverty, no home ownership, and more, one could argue that African America has been in a health crisis and in order to stop the proverbial “bleeding” then we need to address a severe shortage in doctors and nurses coming from our community. The new medical school at UVI will go a long way in doing just that.
HBCUs medical schools, however, must connect themselves more strongly to HBCU undergraduate pipelines to ensure the best of the best from our institutions remain within our institutional ecosystem. It would not hurt to develop a Pre-K to Medical School strategy either. This means that HBCU alumni from all institutions must support more endowed scholarships at these HBCU medical schools for HBCU undergraduates looking to go to medical school. It also means that we can not rest simply on having one public HBCU medical school. We need others, expeditiously. The building of a global Pan-African health system that is centric to our needs is something we need more of – again, expeditiously. The creation of HBCU medical schools will go a long way into the formation of doing our part in accomplishing that. Let us hope it is not another 55 years before the next one is created, but for now let us celebrate and support the wonderful accomplishment of our brothers and sisters at University of the Virgin Islands.
HBCU Money 