$100 million gift from Lilly Endowment aims to shore up HBCU endowments

The United Negro College Fund announced a donation of $100 million from the Lilly Endowment, the single largest unrestricted gift to the organization since its founding 80 years ago. The gift announced Thursday will go toward a pooled endowment for the 37 historically Black colleges and universities that form UNCF’s membership, with the goal of boosting the schools’ long-term financial stability. HBCUs have seen an increase in donations since the racial justice protests spurred by the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. On a per-pupil basis, private non-HBCU endowments are about seven times the size of private HBCU endowments.