After corporations dropped the ball on promised DEI donations and initiatives after George Floyd’s death, HBCUs are reaping the benefits. Several have received assistance from large corporations that have Black people in leadership roles and advocating employees.
Wilberforce University was presented a $500,000 donation from Dominion Energy in 2020, ABC News reports. The donation assisted with providing students with laptops and hot spots when the pandemic caused the campus to shut down.
Wilberforce’s vice president & chief development officer Natalie Cole remembers when she received the phone call. “It was like manna from heaven,” Cole said.
Danielle Robinson, head of community engagement and partnerships for Diageo North America, worked with an employee resource group for African Americans to form a program that has provided close to $12 million to HBCUs. Those funds have gone to scholarships at almost 30 schools that will assist in student debt for Black graduates.
“We talked about a lot of different things, but one of the things that kept coming up was the generational wealth gap,” Robinson said.
Historically Black colleges and universities are often on the low end of donations compared to other universities. Reports show support for HBCUs fell by 30% between 2002 and 2019. But now as corporate donations are trending, things have turned around.
According to Fox News, Delaware State University received a $20 million donation from MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon CEO, in 2020. In total, Scott gifted a record $560 million to HBCUs across the country.
FAMU in Tallahassee, Florida, has seen a major increase in donations from philanthropic foundations, almost doubling from last year’s $2.4 million to $5.3 million so far. CEO of the United Negro College Fund, Michael Lomax, is excited that philanthropy groups are recognizing the excellence produced by HBCUs.
“That they’re going to help us ensure that those jobs and those positions are filled, because they are the positions which will ensure a healthy Black America, but really, a healthy America,” Lomax said.