A recent Washington Post story found that Black Americans donate a higher share of their wealth than their white counterparts – to the tune of around $11 billion each year. Given their cultural and educational importance to the Black community, HBCUs are the repository of much of these donations with a number of household names – and some you may not know – making big-dollar contributions to these institutions.
Here are some of the most prominent Black philanthropists to donate to HBCUS:
Robert F. Smith – Chairman & CEO, Vista Equity Partners
Smith, the billionaire investor behind the software private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, drew widespread praise in May 2019 when he announced that he and his family would pay off the entire student loan debt of the 2019 Morehouse College graduating class of 396 students. Along with paying off the student debt, Smith’s $35 million donation also helped establish the Student Success Program to reduce or eliminate debt for all Morehouse grads. The private equity guru also gave the school an additional $1.5 million to create the Robert Frederick Smith Scholars Program and build a park on campus.
As board chair of the Student Freedom Initiative – a plan to provide STEM students at HBCUs with a family-centric, income-contingent payment alternative to high-cost, fixed-payment debt – Smith pledged $50 million. Smith’s donation jumpstarted the initiative, which hopes to raise $500 million for the effort and began operations in the fall of 2021 at 11 HBCUs.
“Each year, thousands of Black graduates from HBCUs across America enter the workforce with a crushing debt burden that stunts future decisions and prevents opportunities and choices,” Smith said. “The initiative is purposefully built to redress historic economic and social inequities and to offer a sustainable, scalable platform to invest in the education of future Black leaders.”
Oprah Winfrey – TV Personality, Philanthropist, Author, Entrepreneur & Actress
Most people may know the philanthropic acts of Winfrey – who, like Beyoncé, Prince, and Zendaya needs no further introduction – through the infamous “You Get A Car!” episode of her talk show, but she is also quietly, one of the biggest donors to HBCUs in the country.
In 2019, Winfrey donated $13 million to Morehouse College to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program at the HBCU. Overall, she has donated at least $25 million to the Atlanta school.
“I felt that the very first time I came here,” Winfrey said. “The money was an offering to support that in these young men. I understand that African American men are an endangered species. They are so misunderstood. They are so marginalized.”
Besides her gift to Morehouse, Winfrey also donated $1.5 million to the United Negro College Fund to help pay for scholarships for Black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private HBCUs.
Frank Baker – Founder & Managing Partner, Siris Capital
Baker, the founder of private equity firm Siris, along with his wife, interior designer Laura Day Baker, donated $1 million in May 2020 to establish a scholarship fund at Atlanta’s Spelman College, the oldest private historically Black liberal arts college for women.
Initially, the scholarship paid off the existing spring tuition balances of nearly 50 members of Spelman’s 2020 graduating class and the remaining funds are meant to ensure that future high-achieving graduating seniors have the financial resources to graduate.
“We are all aware of the headwinds that people of color – especially women – face in our country, the challenges of which are made even more apparent by the economic and health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the couple said in a press release. “We believe it is critical that talented women finish college and confidently enter – free of undue financial stress – the initial stage of their professional careers.
