South Carolina’s Benedict College and Voorhees University among 12 HBCUs to receive $1 million donation
The United Negro College Fund has announced The Dimon Fund to Advance Economic Opportunity, a historic $12 million gift from The James and Judith K. Dimon Foundation to strengthen the long-term sustainability of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Established as The Dimon Fund to Advance Economic Opportunity within UNCF’s $1.5B capital campaign, the gift will provide permanent endowment capital to 12 selected UNCF member schools as part of their $5 million institutional match within UNCF’s pooled endowment fund. Recipient schools were selected for the strength of their leadership and governance and for their proven record of preparing educators, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. These are high-demand fields in which HBCUs consistently deliver outsized outcomes for first-generation and underrepresented students. A number of the selected schools also have distinctive cross-institutional collaborations, including credit-transfer partnerships in health-related disciplines that shorten the distance between classroom and career launch, a national model for building talent pipelines at scale.
By growing endowments, The Dimon Fund to Advance Economic Opportunity will help strengthen institutional balance sheets, expand capacity for long-range planning, and secure research, academic and infrastructural capital.
The following UNCF member institutions will each receive $1 million in permanent endowment capital through The Dimon Fund to Advance Economic Opportunity: Benedict College (Columbia, SC), Dillard University (New Orleans, LA), Edward Waters University (Jacksonville, FL), Huston-Tillotson University (Austin, TX), Jarvis Christian University (Hawkins, TX), Johnson C. Smith University (Charlotte, NC), Miles College (Fairfield, AL), Oakwood University (Huntsville, AL), Shaw University (Raleigh, NC), Stillman College (Tuscaloosa, AL), Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, AL), and Voorhees University (Denmark, SC).