Current:Home > MyCouple gives $100M to Atlanta’s Spelman College, in largest single gift to a Black college -AssetLink
Couple gives $100M to Atlanta’s Spelman College, in largest single gift to a Black college
View
Date:2025-04-15 17:11:26
ATLANTA (AP) — A billionaire couple is giving $100 million to Atlanta’s Spelman College, which the women’s school says is the largest-ever single donation to a historically Black college or university.
The donation was announced Thursday by Ronda Stryker and her husband William Johnston. She is the billionaire granddaughter of the founder of medical device maker Stryker Corp. and he is the chairman of money management firm Greenleaf Trust. They live in Michigan.
Spelman said that it would use $75 million to endow scholarships. The rest of the money will be used for other purposes, including developing an academic focus on public policy and democracy and improving student housing, a sore point in recent years among Spelman students.
“It’s a transformational gift to any institution, period,” trustee Lovette Russell said.
HBCUs have small endowments compared with other colleges, but have seen an increase in donations since the racial justice protests spurred by the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. Spelman, which has about 2,400 students, has been relatively well-funded though, reporting an endowment of $571 million in 2021. It’s one of only two historically Black women’s colleges and part of the Atlanta University Center, a consortium of four historically Black schools.
“I think it says that it’s worth investing in HBCUs more broadly, schools that have been far too underinvested in,” Spelman College President Helene Gayle told CBS News. The college announced the donation Thursday in its chapel on a CBS broadcast.
Stryker has been a Spelman trustee since 1997. She and Johnston gave Spelman $30 million in 2018. They also gave $100 million in 2011 to create the Homer Stryker medical school at Western Michigan University.
The Spelman donation comes a week after the United Negro College Fund announced a donation of $100 million from the Lilly Endowment Inc. That gift will go toward a pooled endowment for the 37 historically Black colleges and universities that form UNCF’s membership, including Spelman, with the goal of boosting the schools’ long-term financial stability. The fund is trying to raise $370 million for a shared endowment.
Other big donations to HBCUs in recent years include the $560 million MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, gave in 2020 to 22 Black colleges, the UNCF and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, another fundraising arm. Netflix founder Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, split $120 million among the United Negro College Fund, Spelman and Morehouse College. Former New York mayor and entrepreneur Michael Bloomberg pledged $100 million for student aid at the four historically Black medical schools.
veryGood! (4577)
Related
- Tom Holland's New Venture Revealed
- Sydney Sweeney responds to acting criticism from film producer Carol Baum: 'That’s shameful'
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Firecrackers
- Former Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Peter Barca announces new bid for Congress
- Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
- Proof Kourtney Kardashian's Vibe Right Now Is Just Living Life With Her Family
- TikTok is coming for Instagram as ByteDance prepares to launch new photo app, TikTok Notes
- South Carolina Republicans reject 2018 Democratic governor nominee’s bid to be judge
- Chief beer officer for Yard House: A side gig that comes with a daily swig.
- Nancy Pelosi memoir, ‘The Art of Power,’ will reflect on her career in public life
Ranking
- Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear ready to campaign for Harris-Walz after losing out for spot on the ticket
- Billy Joel special will air again after abrupt cut-off on CBS
- How Emma Heming Willis Is Finding Joy in Her Current Chapter
- Israelis grapple with how to celebrate Passover, a holiday about freedom, while many remain captive
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Firecrackers
- 5 years after fire ravaged Notre Dame, an American carpenter is helping rebuild Paris' iconic cathedral
- Abu Ghraib military contractor warned bosses of abuses 2 weeks after arriving, testimony reveals
Recommendation
Everything Simone Biles did at the Paris Olympics was amplified. She thrived in the spotlight
Air National Guard changes in Alaska could affect national security, civilian rescues, staffers say
After 40 years in Park City, Sundance exploring options for 2027 film festival and beyond
Anti-Trump Republican Larry Hogan navigates dangerous political terrain in pivotal Senate contest
A New York Appellate Court Rejects a Broad Application of the State’s Green Amendment
Travel on Over to See America Ferrera's Sisterhood With Blake Lively, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel
NBC entrusts Noah Eagle, 27, to lead Team USA basketball broadcasts for Paris Olympics
Billy Joel special will air again after abrupt cut-off on CBS