Lilly Endowment Awards $100 Million Grant to United Negro College Fund

Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded a $100 million unrestricted grant to support the United Negro College Fund’s capital campaign.

The United Negro College Fund is comprised of 37 member colleges that support the education and development of students through scholarships and other programs.United Negro College Fund Co., Ltd.UNCF announced it is implementing a $1 billion capital campaign that includes five components: student scholarships; Unrestricted funding to strengthen endowments to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Capacity development programs such as technology, training, and research for member HBCUs. Cash reserves and donations to UNCF. Supporting UNCF’s annual campaign.

According to UNCF President and CEO Dr. Michael L. Lomax, this grant is the largest unrestricted private grant ever received by UNCF. His $50 million grant from the Lilly Endowment in 2015 enabled UNCF to launch the Career Pathways Initiative to help improve student career outcomes.

UNCF plans to use the proceeds from its latest grant to establish a collective endowment fund that will increase the contributions of its 37 member institutions by $10 million each.

“The Lilly Endowment’s unrestricted grant will be used as UNCF’s initial investment in the creation of a $370 million HBCU Collective Endowment Fund,” Lomax said.

The UNCF president said the organization expects to raise $185 million through the capital campaign, or $5 million per institution. We plan to work with various organizations to match donations through fundraising activities.