A new report from Candid and ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities has examined philanthropic support to historically Black colleges and universities throughout the twenty-first century, revealing significant disparities in the amount of private funding flowing to HBCUs versus other higher education institutions.
The report authors analyzed 1,000 of the largest U.S. private and community foundations (“big philanthropy”), finding that both the percentage of total giving and dollars awarded to HBCUs declined between 2002 and 2019. In 2002, HBCUs received roughly $65 million from big philanthropy, which was just 0.41 percent of these organizations’ overall grant dollars. By 2019, big philanthropy support to HBCUs declined to $45 million, representing a meager 0.13 percent of overall grant funding. This decline was matched by a decrease in the number of foundations that supported HBCUs, dropping from 158 individual foundations in 2002 to 100 foundations in 2019.
Expanding their analysis, the authors focused on philanthropic giving to HBCUs between 2015 and 2019 among both large and small foundations. During this time period, smaller grants and awards accounted for roughly $20 million per year, which is about half of what was awarded each year by big philanthropy. By funder type, independent foundations accounted for two-thirds of philanthropic dollars to HBCUS, while corporate and community foundations represented 21 percent and 12 percent, respectively. In total, 1,607 foundations awarded 10,278 individual grants to HBCUs between 2015 and 2019, with a mean aggregate dollar amount of $11,000. The median number of grants awarded by these foundations was two and the median number of HBCUs supported was one.
When compared to other institutions in academia, HBCUs receive significantly less philanthropic support from private foundations. Between 2015 and 2019, Ivy League schools received a combined $5.5 billion in philanthropic awards, while HBCUs received just $303 million. This translates to an Ivy League school receiving an average of $110 million per year, compared to an average of $618,588 per year for an HBCU. Thus, the average Ivy League university received 178 times more foundation funding than the average HBCU.
Considering there are notable differences beyond funding between Ivy League institutions and HBCUs (histories, student populations, missions, location, and size, among other factors), the authors compared the philanthropic funding to HBCUs to a set of colleges and universities that are more similarly situated to HBCUs based on the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Compared to these institutions, HBCUs received about two-thirds the amount of philanthropic support between 2015 and 2019.
Within the HBCU ecosystem, certain institutions are receiving particularly large shares of the overall private funding directed to HBCUs. Between 2015 and 2019, the top 10 funded HBCUs received 52 percent of all foundation funding to the HBCU community. Private HBCUs received more than double the grant dollars of public HBCUs.
Since the murder of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, philanthropic support to HBCUs has increased, including the record-breaking donations from billionaire MacKenzie Scott. But according to the report’s qualitative data from interviews, some HBCU staff are skeptical that this renewed support in HBCUs will continue.
The authors conclude, “HBCUs have a proven record of doing more with less, but accepting less should not be an option. It is our hope that through this work, we can inspire new thinking about philanthropy’s relationship with HBCUs and foster intentional investments in these institutions.”
