UNCF Gray's Way

Black Issues in Higher Education, Sept 30, 1999 by Ronald Roach

But he adds that "the emphasis is on the wrong end of the educational spectrum. I would rather see the support go to the improvement of primary and secondary math and science education of minority students. Too many African American and Hispanic students are not getting the preparation they need to pursue math and science education at the college level."

Impressive Growth

Though the Gates pledge brought a fresh round of media glare to the UNCF, with front-page stories in national newspapers and spots on all three major network news shows, the organization has sought high visibility since it was founded in 1944 by then Tuskegee Institute President Dr. Frederick D. Patterson.

Yet the 1990s have represented a decade of phenomenal growth for The College Fund. Perhaps most significant has been the organization's expanded fund raising and program administration activities.

The College Fund's most recent capital campaign drive, Campaign 2000, yielded $280 million over nearly five years -- the largest amount ever raised by a consortium of historically Black institutions.

In addition, the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment last year gave the UNCF a $42 million grant to help member colleges with capital needs, student scholarship money, faculty training and curriculum development. The award stunned the American higher education community because, at the time, it represented the largest single grant the foundation had awarded to any educational group.

"Forty million dollars is an attention getter," says Dr. Humphrey Doermann, former president of the Minnesota-based Bush Foundation, a leading provider of funds for higher education initiatives. Doermann is co-author of a forthcoming book on Black private colleges.

"UNCF has been at the center of the strongest network of any group of private colleges in the country," Doermann says, adding the cooperation within that network even surpasses that of Ivy League schools and the Midwestern private college networks.

Levine notes that a little less than two decades ago, many higher education experts feared that private Black colleges might become extinct, much like private women's colleges and universities.

"Bill Gray and the UNCF have managed to improve the climate dramatically and make Black colleges much more visible and more attractive to students because of the money he has been able to raise.

"There is a lot of money out there today. In fact, this country is awash in money right now because of the emerging economy and Wall Street," he says. "Bill Gray makes an attractive target for some of that giving because of his background. Here's a guy who headed the House budget committee.

"So he comes through not just as another academic asking for money -- but as someone who has experience in the world of finance, government and business," Levine says.

In addition to funds raised in support of its members' basic needs, the UNCF under Gray's leadership has raised impressive sums to fund designated programs -- known in the philanthropic community as "restricted gifts" or "restricted funds."