N.C. A&T Ends Fiscal Year with Monumental $93.8M in Giving

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Aug. 17, 2021) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University recently completed a historic fiscal year in private giving with an unprecedented $93.8 million in individual, corporate and foundation gifts.

The amount is believed to be the most raised by a public historically Black college or university in a single year. It also smashes North Carolina A&T’s previous fundraising record – $18.1 million in fiscal year 2020.

Although a historic $45 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is included in the total, $48.8 million came from a wide range of other sources, including alumni and corporate donors, as part of the Campaign for North Carolina A&T.

The surge in fundraising grew A&T’s endowment to $157.5 million, up $83.7 million from the prior year. As recently as FY2012, the university’s endowment was $28 million. The university now has total invested assets of $178 million. The earnings the university generates on endowments support academic programming, student scholarships and financial aid, faculty salaries and more that may not otherwise receive funding.

“The incredible generosity of our supporters has created a new financial reality at North Carolina A&T that holds great immediate and long-term potential for our university,” said Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. “Just as we have successfully stepped up to compete academically and as a research university over the past 12 years, we are now moving into a level of competitiveness in generating private support that has not been witnessed among HBCU campuses. These investments are now generating millions annually in earnings that go to support a wide range of student success, academic, research and programmatic needs, and they are making a real difference in the quality and impact of A&T.”

The university launched the quiet phase of its Campaign for North Carolina A&T in 2012. It publicly announced the campaign in 2018 with a goal of $85 million. The university hit that mark the following year, and expanded the goal to $100 million by Dec. 31, 2020.

But over the ensuing two years, the A&T philanthropic effort caught fire. By Dec. 31, it raised a total of $181.4 million, more than any other public HBCU has generated in a capital campaign.

A significant portion of that total came from A&T alumni, 14,837 of whom gave to the campaign. Three in particular made such significant gifts that two colleges were renamed in their honor: the Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics and the John R. and Kathy R. Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences.

Other gifts are also having immediate impact. The Equity in Education Initiative (E²I), launched in partnership with Walmart and supported by a $5 million gift from the multinational retail corporation, is a five-year program aimed at increasing the number of African American college graduates securing careers in fields critical to the nation’s workforce needs.

E²I is further supported in part through a $5.5 million gift from Corning Inc. This donation kicked off a five-year partnership with A&T that will provide scholarships through 2026, with a special focus on enhancing STEM education. Funding will go to students in the College of Education, College of Engineering, College of Science and Technology and the Deese College.

A&T also received a $2.1 million gift from 3M in support of E²I, building on a legacy of partnership between 3M and A&T that has focused in recent years on support of the 3M Frontline Sales Internship program.

A portion of the Scott gift established and endowed the February One Scholarship Program, whose inaugural class will begin its studies at A&T this week. That full-ride, merit-based program is named for the date the A&T Four launched their historic sit-in at the downtown Greensboro Woolworth in 1960.

A&T’s deep history in the civil rights movement and America’s ongoing evolution around matters of race and inclusion have both played a role in the university’s more recent success in philanthropy. 

“The influx in corporate giving is directly related to A&T’s popularity and the social injustice reckoning under way in the United States,” said Ralisha Mercer, associate vice chancellor for development at A&T. “We hope to sustain this momentum as a foundation for our university’s growth and development to fulfill its mission and exceed all expectations for success.”

A&T also plans to establish new centers of excellence in health and human sciences, education and the liberal arts in the wake of the campaign’s conclusion, and boost investments in new faculty related to the university’s research mission.