Massive Investment in the Future of HBCUs
In 2023, a national philanthropy group focused on advancing social and economic mobility donated a whopping $124 million toward bolstering historically Black colleges and universities. The list of members of this group include prominent funders such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, the Coleman Family Ventures, The Druckenmiller Foundation, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the Ballmer Group, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
The project, launched after the onset of the pandemic, was the first major joint effort between the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the United Negro College Fund, organizations representing public and private HBCUs, respectively, and the Partnership for Education Advancement, an organization dedicated to strengthening these institutions. The project’s long-range goals included increasing HBCU enrollment by 40 percent, boosting their graduation rates by 54 percent and alleviating historic funding inequities to these institutions. The project currently works with slightly over 40 public and private HBCUs, with plans to add more, to finance efforts that help them run more efficiently and serve students better.
Nicholas Pelzer, senior director for portfolio management at Blue Meridian Partners, said HBCUs seemed like an obvious investment for a philanthropy group focused on social impact.
HBCUs have “always been engines for Black economic mobility and Black leadership,” he said. He noted that they represent 3 percent of higher education institutions but produce half of Black public school teachers, lawyers and doctors and 80 percent of Black judges, despite being “historically, chronically underfunded for the entirety of their existence.”
The bulk of the $124 million will go to initiatives at individual HBCUs to build up their technology and infrastructure and boost enrollment, retention and other student success initiatives.
Pelzer, of Blue Meridian Partners, said he hopes the funding spurs other donors to follow suit and invest in these institutions.
“Our investment is substantive, but it’s just one piece of what would be a much larger need to try to build equity and parity across HBCUs and their predominantly white institution counterparts,” he said. “We think it’s an excellent first step, but we’ve still got a long way to go, and we’re hoping other people will join us on the journey.”
