Amid HBCU funding concerns, UNCF will use $100 million gift to support endowments

A major philanthropic organization is awarding $100 million which will help increase endowments for historically Black colleges and universities, many of which continue to be underfunded at high rates, according to federal government data.

The donation from the Lilly Endowment Inc. to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), announced on Thursday, is intended to boost the fund's new $1 billion capital campaign, according to a news release from the fund.

The award will immediately increase each UNCF member's endowment by $2.7 million, the release states. That would more than double the endowments of two of the 37 member institutions of the UNCF.

Dr. Michael L. Lomax, the UNCF president and CEO, said in a statement that the $100 million will help establish "an HBCU pooled endowment fund of $370 million."

"Rising tides do lift all boats and UNCF is committed to making this a reality," Lomax said.

HBCU advocates and experts previously told ABC News that the colleges and universities got a new "spotlight" put on them, and the opportunity they offer, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year effectively ending the use of affirmative action in higher education admissions.

At the same time, some of those educators and advocates noted the persistent financial differences that could hamstring the ability of HBCUs to meet increased interest and demand.

Government officials have also spoken out about the issue.

"Unacceptable funding inequities have forced many of our nation's distinguished Historically Black Colleges and Universities to operate with inadequate resources and delay critical investments in everything from campus infrastructure to research and development to student support services," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement last fall.

In September, Cardona and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wrote letters to 16 governors whose states include HBCUs that are disproportionately funded compared to their non-HBCU land-grant institutions.

Because the Second Morrill Act of 1890 mandated African Americans' inclusion in land-grant higher education opportunities without discrimination, the states with separate colleges for Black and white students were eligible for federal funds.

But Black schools in these mostly southern states did not all receive that money equally and are still owed more than $12 billion in total, according to a National Center for Education Statistics survey that ranges from 1987 to 2020. That analysis outlines a decadeslong history of severe financial gaps.

Two states, Delaware and Ohio, have appropriately funded their HBCUs, according to the data reviewed by the secretaries.

North Carolina's Roy Cooper, one of the governors whom Cardona and Vilsack wrote to, acknowledged in his response that "for too long, these remarkable institutions have been forced to operate with fewer resources in their mission to provide opportunity to Black students."

Howard University education professor Ivory Toldson told ABC News that he believes the lack of state funding is in some cases illegal.

"There's issues related to states not giving HBCUs the funding that they are supposed to get under their law or creating funding formulas that are intentionally designed to deny HBCUs the kind of funding that they are supposed to get," Toldson explained.

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University professor Jelani Favors argued that the funding inadequacy has been holding Black Americans back since the 19th century.

"It's very simple: Cut the check," Favors told ABC News.

He linked the problem to America's history of racial inequality.

"We always knew that separate did not mean equal, that these institutions were deliberately segregated, that they were deliberately underfunded," Favors said. "It was always understood, both implicitly as well as explicitly, that white legislators were not going to fund Black colleges, Black neighborhoods, Black institutions in the same way."

Toldson noted, however, that not every HBCU has the same kind of funding problems. Public land-grant HBCUs have different sources of money -- from the state -- than private HBCUs, which receive funding from donors and other third-party institutions.

"If we were to survey them [HBCUs] appropriately, without bias, we probably would find the majority of them with the resources that they need to meet their mission, but you'll also find some that are really struggling," Toldson said. "A lot of them are schools that aren't as well known -- even among HBCUs -- and those challenges tend to be more unique to that institution, rather than it being a function of them being an HBCU."

Lilly’s contribution this week to the UNCF is not the only major recent donation toward HBCUs.

The Steinbridge Group -- an impact investment firm -- gave more than $100 million to HBCUs in November, in what the company called one of the largest such awards in its history.

"This is not a job for me: This is a calling," CEO Tawan Davis told ABC News, adding that "to make some small contribution in the march toward opportunity for African Americans in this country is deeply humbling."

That money was preceded by a $124 million gift for the HBCU Transformation Project from Blue Meridian Partners, a philanthropic group, last fall. The project is currently working with 40 schools, aiming to reduce the wealth gaps between HBCUs and other higher education institutions. However, advocates feel that more could be done from the government.

According to federal government statistics, there were about 287,000 students enrolled at HBCUs in 2021.

The White House has launched an initiative focused on HBCUs, which is "desperately" working to get them more resources, according to Executive Director Dietra Trent.

Trent told ABC News her job is to ensure the 107 HBCUs across the country have a relationship with a productive federal government.

"We can't write a check, per se, but what we can do is change the way that we do business with HBCUs," she said. "So when this administration is over with, in five years, those relationships are sustainable and those opportunities are sustainable."

Favors, who teaches at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, said, "We could do a lot with $3 million, imagine what we could do with $3 billion?"