While 2020 and the first few months of 2021 have been incredibly challenging in a number of ways, there does appear to be at least one bit of good news emerging from the chaos. Personal contributions and charitable donations to the nation’s leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities have hit an all-time high, with schools like North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro — the nation’s largest HBCU — earning record levels in their annual fundraising efforts.
Liz Schlemmer of NPR has reported that North Carolina A&T State “has raised $88 million since its fiscal year began last summer. That’s almost six times what the university typically fundraises annually — and the fiscal year isn’t even over yet.”
In an interview with Schlemmer, Todd Simmons, N.C. A&T’s associate vice chancellor for university relations said “There has not been a year like that ever in our history. Nor has there been a year like that in the history of nearly any other public HBCU in America.”
