HBCUs Get Savvy About Fund Raising - Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Black Issues in Higher Education, August 30, 2001 by Cheryl D. Fields

Today, anyone interested in donating to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) can do so online. An agreement between the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) and Gateway computer company gives HBCUs a new way to save on technology purchases. Howard University recently scored a major coup by wooing development veteran Virgil E. Ecton away from UNCF, after 31 years, to head the university's institutional advancement team. And, last year, Hampton University became the first historically Black college to break the $200 million mark in a capital campaign.

Everywhere, there is evidence that HBCUs and their supportive organizations are becoming more savvy and aggressive about fund raising and development. The July 5, 2001, edition of Black Issues focused on the capital campaign activities of HBCUs. But capital campaigns are only one way that these schools are working to improve their institutional stability.

More and more, HBCUs are adopting advancement models to enable them to craft a more cohesive and lucrative approach to development. The array of opportunities that HBCUs are exploring now includes: non-alumni donor development, online contributions, alumni giving, endowment development, challenge grants, faculty and staff giving, student giving, estate planned-giving, major gifts, and foundation and corporate gifts. Properly coordinated with public relations, communications, marketing, direct mail and government relations, these activities can yield significant returns. It is certainly not your run-of-the-mill, HBCU fund raising anymore.

"Advancement is different because it attempts to move the institution forward instead of just raising money," says Alice Green Burnette, founder and principal of Advancement Solutions, a development consulting firm in Palm Coast, Fla.

Philanthropists and development professionals welcome these trends and predict that those institutions that fail to get their development houses in order won't survive.

"Corporations are interested in getting the biggest bang for our buck," says Noel Hankin, vice president of multicultural marketing at Schieffelin & Somerset and a member of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund board. "We want to be sure the contributions we make are being well spent."

Ida Simon, vice president and chief development officer for the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, says "schools that don't work it out over the next five or six years will become less competitive because they won't have the infrastructure and things that draw students or faculty."

ENCOURAGING ALUMNI GIVING

Delaware State University began moving toward an advancement model of development in 1999. Prior to that, the Dover, Del., campus with an enrollment of roughly 3,100, had experienced success with capital campaigns, but thought it could do even better. Billie J. Hooker, vice president for university advancement since 1999, says the new advancement model emphasizes resource development, relationship building and image building.

"We're trying to tie all of these together in order to help people feel ownership of this university," she says. So far, the results are favorable.

The university's first internal development campaign, targeting staff and faculty, raised $67,000 in 2000 and is on its way to surpassing $80,000 this year, Hooker says. An alumni-targeted campaign attracted the university's first $100,000 individual alumni gift. Plans are in the works to launch a new capital campaign soon.

Like Delaware State, many HBCUs have only begun to tap the potential of annual giving among alumni, faculty and even students.

"If I'm telling you there are over 2 million (HBCU alumni), what if every one gave $100 per year?" Simon says.

Howard President H. Patrick Swygert, who says he is thrilled about having Ecton lead his advancement team, is looking forward to exploring new opportunities with alumni.

"Estate gifts, if properly cultivated and pursued will have an impact," he says. Howard also intends to prospect among the emerging crop of African American millionaires who are in their 20s and 30s.

As far as students go, Ecton says college is a good time to begin instilling the notion of responsible giving. "So they can understand that they have an obligation to give back," he says. "We can do a better job of drilling that message." He adds that it is a lot easier to start when people are students than it is once they become mature adults who are accustomed to enjoying the benefits of alumni status with no investment.

AMASSING THE TEAM

One key to successful development is having a sophisticated advancement apparatus, in which the president plays a leading role.

"At our schools (HBCUs), it is the president who has to set the tone and be the focal point," says Dr. William B. Harvey, president of Hampton university. To date, Hampton has raised $220 million in its most recent capital campaign (see Black Issues, July 5).

Harvey and his wife, Norma, contributed $1 million of their own money, for teacher education scholarships, to the campaign. Admittedly, few college presidents are in the position to give as generously as Harvey, who apart from his role as president of Hampton also is a successful businessman. Still, even the most committed presidents, must be backed by a skillful and dedicated team.