Higher Education's Money Man

Black Issues in Higher Education, Sept 30, 1999 by Frank L. Matthews, Cheryl D. Fields

Q Is this last part a matching fund?

A It's a carrot for self-development.... So you can actually have a small school like Voorhees [College] do better than a big school like Clark Atlanta [University] if fund-raising among its trustees [and] its alumni is significantly larger proportionally.

Q When was this formula instituted?

A This formula was created when the fund was created. It has changed slightly over 55 years. And about every eight to 10 years, the presidents reexamine the formula.... It was designed to be fair, designed to be equitable.

Q How critical a problem is It that unrestricted giving has not grown as rapidly as restricted giving? Restricted giving, It seems, Is most available In fields that are tied to corporate objectives such as engineering or medicine. What happens to the humanities If your member Institutions don't have funds available to nurture these departments?

A The challenge to the UNCF is to make sure that we cover the waterfront with the unrestricted funds so that there are no gaps in dollars like the ones you just described.... So what I do is I go to the arts people, private people and say, "We need to produce Alice Walkers, Nikki Giovannis. We produced them in the past, but you know, I'm worried. We don't have any scholarship money for kids like that. Quincy Jones, we want to produce another one of you. And all of the money is in engineering and medicine, I need some music scholarships." That's what we have to do to manage that. That's the challenge.

Q How competitive Is It out there now In terms of getting money for Black students who attend Black colleges -- especially when traditionally White colleges are also trying to get money fur Black students?

A Well, it is a tug-of-war. We had one major contributor who gave us a significant gift of $2 million, maybe $4 million. He turned around three years later and gave his alma mater $60 million for diversity. You have to understand what motivates people to give. One of the biggest mistakes we make in fund-raising is for me to get mad at you because you give money to that which you value most.

Q How has the anti-affirmative action movement affected what you're doing at The College Fund?

A The [Proposition] 209-[Initiative] 200 phenomenon has not really had a major affect on our fund-raising or our strategies because our strategies have been built over a long-term view of the importance of educating African Americans and maintaining African American educational institutions. Our argument has been consistent: These are valuable assets to the pantheon of American higher education. Why? Because they are low-cost, they are bargains, they are productive and they outproduce [the competition, in terms of Black graduates].... That's been our argument, that's been our strategy and I think it's worked in terms of fund-raising. The second thing we have looked at from a marketing point of view, is what I call the demographic revolution of the 21st century. That is, if America is going to prosper and lead in the global marketplace, we've got to have people highly skilled. When you look at the demographics of this country, the 21st century, by the middle of that century, half of everybody who calls themselves American will be Hispanic, African American, Native American, Asian American or some combination. MicroSoft, General Motors, Chase Manhattan Bank, [Bank of America] cannot be profitable, productive or even run unless they help to develop a skills base in those communities for two reasons: One, those are the consumers; and second, those are the people you need to hire to run your enterprise.