Mega-gifts of $100 million or more continued to roll in for higher education in 2020, but major … [+]
Higher education is once again having a banner year of nine-figure private gifts, those donations of $100 million or more that are the definition of the mega-gift. But this year there’s a difference in the kinds of institutions receiving many of these gifts, and it may signal an important shift in the aims of major philanthropists and their support for higher education.
Historically, donations of the largest private gifts have reinforced a well-recognized status and wealth divide in higher education. Most $100 million-plus gifts over recent years have gone to premier universities and elite colleges enjoying national prestige, large endowments and highly selective admissions standards. As admirable as these gifts have been, they’ve generally not benefitted institutions that serve the most diverse and financially strapped students. Community colleges. Regional universities. Minority-serving institutions. It’s often a case of the rich getting richer, and the rest getting the remains.
But 2020 is shaping up as something different. Is this year just an anomaly, a temporary readjustment inspired by the pandemic and racial justice concerns? Or does it signal a fundamental shift in giving priorities, with major donors looking to invest in institutions that serve larger shares of low-income and minority students?
Consider these examples.
The Harold Alfond Foundation Gift to the University of Maine
In October, the Harold Alfond Foundation announced it was granting more than $500 million for new investments to help grow Maines’s workforce and economy and support quality health care.
The Alfond awards will be paid out over time in amounts totaling $5 million to $240 million each to support several educational, skill-building, research and job creation programs. The largest gift of $240 million was to the University of Maine System to bring about major changes in Maine’s public universities, including the creation of a multi-campus College of Engineering, Computing, and Information Science and adding new programs to enhance student retention and success.
The Kummer Gift to Missouri S and T
Also in October, Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S and T) announced it had received a $300 million donation, the largest single gift in the history of Missouri higher education. St. Louis businessman and Missouri S and T alum Fred Kummer and his wife June gave the money to a foundation they created that will support several initiatives at the university, including scholarships, fellowships and other enhancements for undergraduate and graduate students.
The Jay Pritzker Foundation Gift to California Community Colleges
This week the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office announced a $100 million commitment from the Jay Pritzker Foundation to fund scholarships for California students facing financial hardships. The gift, the largest ever to a community college system, will be used to close educational attainment gaps in the state over the next twenty years.
All of this year’s grants, as much as $150,000 per college, may be used to give students emergency financial aid. In future years, colleges may use the grants to provide a combination of emergency aid and scholarships of up to $18,500 per student per year.
“This unparalleled level of support for our students will be life-changing,” said Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor of the 116 community college system. “I hope this will challenge other donors throughout the country to rethink higher education giving and re-examine the focus on selective, four-year institutions. This gift will go directly to support some of the most talented and under-resourced students in America.”
The MacKenzie Scott Gift to HBCUs
In July, MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos, revealed that she had donated almost $1.7 billion to more than one hundred nonprofit entities. Included were six Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) – Hampton, Howard, Morehouse, Spelman, Tuskegee, and Xavier (Louisiana) – along with several educational advocacy groups and scholarships funds.
According to Scott, she “asked a team of non-profit advisors with key representation from historically marginalized race, gender, and sexual identity groups to help me find and assess organizations having major impact on a variety of causes.”
The Reed Hastings, Patty Quillin Scholarship Gift
Reed Hastings, the co-founder of Netflix, and his wife, Patty Quillin, announced in June that they were donating a total of $120 million – $40 million each to the United Negro College Fund, Spelman College and Morehouse College. The New York Times described it as the largest-ever individual gift to support scholarships at historically black colleges and universities.
“I think white people in our nation need to accept that it’s a collective responsibility,” Mr. Hastings said. The killing of George Floyd and the national demonstrations that ensued were “the straw that broke the camel’s back, I think, for the size of the donation,” Hastings said.
The IBM Gift To HBCUs
In September, IBM announced it was establishing the quantum education and research initiative for historically Black colleges and universities. The IBM-HBCU Quantum Center is a multi-year investment that will focus on physics, engineering, mathematics, computer science, and other STEM fields at 13 HBCUs: Albany State University, Clark Atlanta University, Coppin State University, Hampton University, Howard University, Morehouse College, Morgan State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Southern University, Texas Southern University, the University of the Virgin Islands, Virginia Union University, and Xavier University of Louisiana.
In addition, IBM invest $100 million in technology, assets, resources and skills development through partnerships with several other HBCUs through the IBM Skills Academy Academic Initiative.
The Bloomberg Gift to HBCU Medical Schools
Also in September, Michael R. Bloomberg announced his foundation would make a $100 million donation to four historically Black medical schools, in an attempt to improve the health and wealth of Black communities.
The gift will benefit about 800 medical students, who will each receive grants of up to $100,000 to support their studies at Charles R. Drew University of Science and Medicine, in Los Angeles; Howard University College of Medicine, in Washington; Meharry Medical College, in Nashville; and Morehouse School of Medicine.
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To be sure, this year, like last, also was a good year for highly regarded, brand-name institutions. As examples,
- The University of California, Berkeley received its single largest gift ever, a $252 million anonymous donation to establish a computer science and data-science “hub.”
- Bard College received $100 million ($10 million per year for ten years) from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations to support Bard’s Center for Civic Engagement initiatives, a key part of its undergraduate liberal arts curriculum.
- The University of Texas was the recipient of a $100 million gift from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation that it will use to create a new partnership aimed at closing the income gap in college graduation rates.
- Northeastern University announced it was launching the Roux Institute in Portland Maine with a $100 million investment from technology entrepreneur David Roux and his wife Barbara. The institute will house a graduate education and research campus focused on the digital and life sciences.
In a year in which experts are predicting an overall downturn in private giving to higher education, mega-gifts are equalling or exceeding their pace of recent years. What remains to be seen is how permanent 2020’s shift in philosophy for these transformational gifts will be.
Will donors revert to a preference for elevating further the standing of well-established, prosperous universities, or will they increase their investments in institutions that serve large numbers of financially needy and socio-economically diverse students. Access and affordability seem to have caught major donor’s eye this year. Now we’ll see how long that focus is sustained.
