From black-tie events to direct deposit donations from alumni, private HBCUs are fi nding success in creative fundraising.
After Dr. Larry Earvin became Huston-Tillotson University president, he crafted an annual black-tie gala to raise scholarship funds. Despite the country’s economic doldrums, Earvin’s event this year netted proceeds pushing the cumulative total since 2004 to more than $1 million.
When Beverly Hogan became Tougaloo College president, she urged alumni to make charitable donations supporting the school. One of Hogan’s recent initiatives has Tougaloo automatically collecting $20-a-month minimum contributions from each graduate signing up for bank-account drafts.
Hogan and Earvin are among leaders of private historically Black colleges and universities whose fundraising skills have helped their institutions survive and thrive in their niches.
Regardless of their constituencies, the overwhelming majority of U.S. private schools are tuition-dependent.
“It’s always hard for small, minority serving institutions to educate low-income students,” says Dr. Michael Lomax, United Negro College Fund president.
More than 50 percent of students at UNCF schools like HT and Tougaloo have families whose annual income is $25,000 or less, Lomax says.
