Contact: Thonnia Lee, Office of Communications, PR & Marketing
Tuskegee University is proud to announce that it has received $5 million from the UNCF that will be used for its $300 million comprehensive campaign, which is targeting student debt and increasing student resources to support their success.
The $5 million is part of $70 million the UNCF received from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, who has also previously supported Tuskegee. The UNCF was co-founded by former Tuskegee president Frederick Patterson in 1944 to collectively raise scholarship money for students of HBCUs.
The UNCF is raising $370 million for a pooled endowment for its 37 private member HBCUs. Each will receive a $5 million stake from this initiative. The UNCF will then work with each institution to raise an additional $5 million in matching funds, creating a $10 million stake per institution. These pooled funds will be managed in perpetuity and will make annual distributions at a 4 percent payout rate, providing long-term financial stability for the campuses and their students.
“Tuskegee University continues to be grateful for our partnership with the UNCF and its leader Dr. Michael Lomax,” said Dr. Mark A. Brown, President and CEO. “As I stated during our recent investiture, Tuskegee embraces the synergy created when we work together with our fellow HBCUs. The brilliance of UNCF comes through with the initiative to launch a shared endowment amongst HBCUs. In our capitalistic society, pooling our resources enables greater individual benefit to all of us. In the end, we can all do more to do eliminate student debt through greater amounts and more student scholarships! the markets to perform. That’s exactly what Tuskegee will do with the money. Therefore, this $5 million is a monumental gift as we march toward our $300 million goal.”
The Campaign for Tuskegee University, entitled Solving the World’s Most Complex Problems, was announced last weekend during the Investiture celebration for Dr. Brown. This campaign, now in its public phase, is set to raise $300 million and will support student scholarships, tutoring, campus enhancements and to grow the endowment. The university is focused on ensuring students graduate with as little debt as possible and have the academic support they need to ensure they are successful.
“We are committed to ensuring our students graduate with as little debt as possible and have the academic support they need to ensure they are successful,” said Dr. Brown. “The UNCF’s ongoing support at a key moment during our campaign, helps us to accomplish that goal. We are grateful to the UNCF and Mackenzie Scott for their generosity.”
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