The women’s school at Spelman Institution in Atlanta has announced that a rich couple has made the largest-ever single contribution to a historically Black college or university, amounting to $100 million.
Ronda Stryker and her husband William Johnston recently announced the contribution. Her grandfather, who founded Stryker Corp. and is currently head of the money management company Greenleaf Trust, is a billionaire who is also her grandchild. They call Michigan home.
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Spelman stated that $75 million will be utilized for scholarship endowments. The remaining funds will go toward other initiatives, like as strengthening student housing—a sensitive issue for Spelman students in recent years—and fostering an academic focus on public policy and democracy.
“It’s a transformational gift to any institution, period,” According to trustee Lovette Russell.
Compared to other universities, HBCUs have smaller endowments, but since the racial justice demonstrations sparked by George Floyd’s death in Minnesota, more money has been donated to them. With 2,400 students, Spelman has been comparatively well-funded; as of 2021, the school reported having an endowment of $571 million. As a component of the Atlanta University Center, an alliance of four historically Black universities, it is one of just two historically Black women’s institutions.
“I think it says that it’s worth investing in HBCUs more broadly, schools that have been far too underinvested in,” a news media house was informed by Spelman College President Helene Gayle. During a CBS broadcast, the college made the donation announcement in its chapel.
Since 1997, Stryker has served as a trustee for Spelman. In 2018, she and Johnston gave Spelman $30 million. In 2011, they also donated $100 million to Western Michigan University to establish the Homer Stryker Medical School.
The United Negro College Fund announced a $100 million commitment from Lilly Endowment Inc. one week before the Spelman bequest. To enhance the long-term financial stability of the 37 historically Black colleges and institutions that make up UNCF’s membership, including Spelman, that donation will go into a pooled endowment. $370 million is being sought after by the fund for a shared legacy. In 2020, MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, contributed $560 million to 22 Black universities, UNCF, and another fundraising arm, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. These are just a few of the significant gifts that prominent figures have made to HBCUs recently. $120 million was divided between Spelman, Morehouse College, and the United Negro College Fund by Netflix founder Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin. Michael Bloomberg, a businessman and former mayor of New York, promised to donate $100 million to the four historically Black medical institutions as student aid.
