Black MBA - Winter 2007/2008 - (Page 32) FEATURE Ahead of the Curve HBCUs Push Forward: Professionalizing Appeals for Alumni Support By Denise Stewart NEW ORLEANS’ Xavier University was devastated, l i ke most of t he Crescent City, when Hurricane Katrina’s high winds and flood waters crashed the Gulf Coast in August 2005. At a time when the historic college was organizing a major fundraising program, suddenly there was a need for even more help. But Xavier president Norman Francis, who has been at the helm of the university for 40 years, received the most sincere encouragement in the wake of the storm from Xavier alumni. “They really came through when we needed them,” Francis said. “One alumnus sent us a check for $20,000 and indicated that more would be on the way. We needed it.” Francis’s experience after Katrina is not new for Xavier, or for several other historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The number of Black alumni who contribute to their colleges and universities is increasing, university officials and development experts say. For some who have been giving all along, the sums on the checks are increasing, too. One of the biggest pledges on record for an HBCU is a planned $10 million gift from North Carolina A&T (NCAT) State University alumna Janice Bryant Howroyd, founder and CEO of Act I Group in Torrance, Calif. Howroyd was tapped to lead the university’s $100 million capital campaign and stepped forward in 2004 with the announcement of her gift. In a prepared statement given at the time of the announcement, Howroyd said, “This gift is because of my belief in North Carolina A&T State University and the whole North Carolina education system. Giving back to an institution that produced six of my top corporate employees, who are now in senior executive positions, gives me such joy.” The continuing $100 million campaign is crucial for NCAT, located in Greensboro, N.C. The school has been supported through its history almost entirely by public dollars. In recent years, however, state funding to the school has been cut by more than $22 million, according to university reports. With more than 90 percent of its 11,000 students on financial aid, strong alumni and corporate support is needed to continue providing quality education. Funds raised in NCAT’s campaign will be used for student scholarships, faculty and staff development, facility improvements, academic programs and community partnerships. At Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md., a retired UPS executive and his wife upped their total contribution to a sum of $2 million in October. Calvin and Tina Tyler are now the largest individual donors in the university’s 140-year history, according to Morgan State University President Earl S. Richardson. Their gifts fund the university’s Tyler Scholars program, which provides scholarships for students who are products of the Baltimore public schools and attend Morgan State. The Tylers already have given Morgan State two separate $500,000 gifts. Their latest gift of $1 million was announced in October. “The Tylers’ commitment to Morgan, its mission and its place in the landscape of higher education is beyond measure,” Richardson said in a prepared statement. “The Tylers continue to demonstrate that access and opportunity for our students is the greatest investment anyone can make.” The Tylers are products of Baltimore City public schools and said they wanted to do something to give back to their community. “Both gifts are for the same purpose because we believe that education is very important,” Calvin Tyler said. “We are natives of Baltimore and products of the Baltimore City public schools. We have been truly blessed throughout our lives and so we just want to look for opportunities to help others.” In 2000, Calvin and Tina Tyler gave their first gift of $500,000 to the university to establish an endowed scholarship for graduates from Baltimore City public schools. Five students have benefited from the Tylers’ gift, each receiving a full four-year scholarship to the university. The Tylers gave another $500,000 in 2006. Other HBCUs have relied on the help of generous alumni to get them through times of crisis. When Alabama’s Talladega College faced the loss of its accreditation because of financial problems, the school’s alumni, along with several corporate donors, pitched in to save the college. Four million dollars was needed to pay off the college’s debt. EBONY Fashion Fair founder Eunice Johnson, an Alabama native and Talladega alumna, stepped up with a contribution of $1 million as a matching gift. In just six weeks in 2004, the college, founded by freed slaves in 1867, raised $2.3 million to help boost its financial stability. In 2006, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) cleared Talladega’s standing, and the school continues to work toward rebuilding itself. BEGINNING TO GIVE While larger alumni gifts to HBCUs typically come from those with wellestablished careers, many schools are examining what they can do to inspire recent graduates to donate often and to increase their fi nancial commitments as they progress in their careers. “Universities realize that their development programs don’t begin once a person has graduated. They begin when that student first hits campus,” said Emmett Carson of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a noted scholar on philanthropy and African Americans. “If the scheduling process was positive, if their financial package was in order and if they had an overall pleasant undergraduate experience, there’s a 32 BlackMBA • Winter 2007/2008 • www.nbmbaa.org http://www.nbmbaa.org
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.