By postal service and online, in amounts small and large, a steady stream of donations is flowing into Bennett College every day as the private, all-women HBCU seeks to raise $5 million in unrestricted funds by February.
More than 2,000 individual and organizational donors had given a total of more than $1 million by last week, said the school’s president, Dr. Phyllis Worthy Dawkins.
“Every dollar counts,” Dawkins told Diverse. “We appreciate the one dollar as much as we appreciate the $10,000 donations. I’m very touched by the number of people that give. I am very optimistic.”
Dawkins said gifts from single digits to five figures are flowing in from a broad range of sources: students, alumni, other HBCUS, colleges and universities in North Carolina and beyond, random citizens across the nation and celebrities such as Jussie and Jake Smollett and Rev. Jamal Bryant, who are using their public platforms to drum up support.
Bennett’s accreditation – and almost assuredly its fate – hang in the balance. After a two-year probationary period, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) decided to revoke Bennett’s accreditation because of failure to comply with standards regarding financial resources and stability.
Rather than give up, leaders of the 146–year-old school appealed the decision, buying them time to increase efforts to grow both income and the student body.
A significant part of Bennett’s strategy has been to maximize use of social media to raise awareness and dollars in a #StandWithBennett campaign. The effort hit a high point this week when Empire star Jussie Smollett and his brother, actor and chef Jake Smollett, wore “Stand With Bennett” tee shirts in an Instagram post that urged support for the college.
