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…At the beverage company Diageo North America, the employee resource group for African Americans shaped a program that has provided almost $12 million to HBCUs, said Danielle Robinson, head of community engagement and partnerships for Diageo. The money has gone toward scholarships at 29 schools to lessen the debt burden on Black graduates.
“We talked about a lot of different things, but one of the things that kept coming up was the generational wealth gap,” Robinson said.
See the entire 6/1/2023 article via the link to the right.
U.S. Companies, Nudged by Black Employees, Have Stepped Up Donations to HBCUs
…Historically Black colleges and universities, which had seen giving from foundations decline in recent decades, lately are benefiting from an increase in gifts, particularly from corporations and corporate foundations. Some have received a new look from companies amid the reckoning over racial injustice spurred by the killing of George Floyd. But the colleges also have been pitching themselves, emphasizing their ability to deliver returns on the investment in student mobility.
Another factor in the giving by corporations has been the influence of their Black employees.
At the beverage company Diageo North America, the employee resource group for African Americans shaped a program that has provided almost $12 million to HBCUs, said Danielle Robinson, head of community engagement and partnerships for Diageo. The money has gone toward scholarships at 29 schools to lessen the debt burden on Black graduates.
“We talked about a lot of different things, but one of the things that kept coming up was the generational wealth gap,” Robinson said.
The giving to HBCUs is a new trend for corporations, which had largely ignored them before 2020, said Marybeth Gasman, a Rutgers University professor who researches HBCUs. Increasingly, HBCUs have been using the language of business to argue they not only have a high need but also are a good investment, she said.
HBCUs often have smaller endowments and lower levels of public funding than other universities. A report released in May found foundation support of HBCUs declined 30 percent from 2002 to 2019. Data is incomplete for more recent years, but HBCUs have been reporting a sustained increase lately in donations from corporations as well as philanthropic foundations….
This article is part of a partnership the Chronicle has forged with the Associated Press and the Conversation to expand coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The three organizations receive support for this work from the Lilly Endowment. The AP is solely responsible for the content in this article.