Adapted from this week’s HBCU newsletter. Sign up NOW to make sure you get exclusive HBCU videos, news and analysis in your inbox every Wednesday morning.
This year, HBCUs saw money come in from companies ranging from Silicon Valley giants to venture capitalists.
In June, Google gave $50 million to 10 HBCUs, the tech giant’s largest financial commitment to HBCUs to date.
That same month, three multibillion-dollar asset management firms banded together to launch a 10-year, $90 million initiative at four HBCUs.
Across the HBCU landscape, companies weren’t just giving money, but also forming partnerships. At Xavier University, Victory Capital Management partnered with the school on a new scholarship program and an investment club with $100,000 in seed funding.
Another one of these partnerships was with Facebook and Howard University. The tech giant is turning to Howard as one of its partners in a $50 million metaverse research initiative.
One of Facebook’s Silicon Valley neighbors is also working with HBCUs through a multi-million dollar partnership. This year, Apple has given nearly half of all HBCUs access to new Apple technology and resources to learn and teach coding thanks to an expansion in late August of their HBCU C2 initiative.
Foundations also joined in on the giving. In July, Howard University received a total of $20 million in donations that helped bring acclaimed journalists Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates to the school as faculty.
Howard also received a $16.8 million, five-year grant from the PNC Foundation, the main philanthropic arm of PNC Bank, to create a new HBCU entrepreneurship center network.
It’s not the only entrepreneurship initiative launched this year for HBCUs. The new Center for Black Entrepreneurship, which will be housed on the campuses of Morehouse College and Spelman College, has raised at least $15 million this year from Mastercard and Bank of America.
All of these initiatives are just a sampling of what HBCUs have received this year, but in 2022 The Plug will continue to follow the money and see what impact it is having.
