Desk of the President
Feb 10, 2025
A Think Piece
In 2024, several HBCU presidents from across the nation gathered in a meeting room in Atlanta, GA, to ideate ways to secure the future of HBCUs through radical partnerships and innovations. This conversation was not simply a convening but a chance for leaders to locate a synergy for securing the future of HBCUs. This time, the think tank was a curated exchange of ideas from eleven sitting and retired HBCU presidents and the managing partner of SeaChange Capital Partners, John MacIntosh. Gathered to participate in a uniquely designed 24-hour roundtable about HBCU funding and grant-making.
The gathering hosted by the Higher Education Leadership Foundation offered a unique experience for invited conversation. The Higher Education Leadership Foundation (H.E.L.F.) is a multi-faceted leader development organization with a unique approach of mentorship, institutes, collaboration, and personal experiences dedicated to securing the future of HBCUs. The Higher Education Leadership Foundation has impacted the HBCU landscape with record involvement. Its impact at a glance includes 144+ HBCU administrators, 30+ Senior Administrators, and 8+ presidents, which enhances the pipeline. This is why, when H.E.L.F. co-founder and Wiley University President Felton shared this idea with fellow presidents and SeaChange Capital Partners leadership, there was considerable eagerness to answer the call.
For 24 hours, several HBCU presidents and the SeaChange Capital Partners President thought together to articulate an additional strategy for funding the future of HBCUs. The discussion began with questions - what happens when we identify our angsts, name the impact of reliance on institutional advancement and enrollment as our primary fiscal pipelines, and ideate as entrepreneurial entities that can be self-sufficient in prosperity and crisis moments?
Since the mid-1800s, when the first higher education institutions began awarding collegiate diplomas, not much has changed in funding structures for these institutions. Early key funding structures relied heavily on donations from individuals and communities, self-reliance, students paying for their education through work, churches (Black and White), and the Freedmen Bureau/Aid Society playing vital roles. Today, they are still fueled by a complex set of donations and tuition and, since 1965, Federal Student Aid and state scholarship programs (dependent on state). Newly freed enslaved persons and freedpersons who arrived at these newly minted experiences described an incredible duality of a thriving space, as in the case of Tuskegee University, Henry Clay Bruce’s (1836-1902) oral history, where he gives us a glimpse of an HBCU model of self-sufficiency, reliance, and agency:
“On the fourth of July, 1881, this school began, in an old church building, with one teacher and thirty pupils. Since then its growth has been most remarkable. … o over 1500 acres of land, nineteen buildings, has more than six hundred students, forty-one teachers, and gives instruction in eighteen industries. Its lands and buildings are worth $185,000. Its industries include farming, brickmaking, sawmill work, planning, carpentry, painting, brickmasonry, plastering, blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, chairmaking, mattressmaking, printing, bee-culture; and for girls, laundering, general housekeeping, sewing, including cutting and making garments, and cooking lessons for seniors. Eight of the largest buildings have been built wholly or in part by student labor. It has been the aim of the school from the first to combine thorough mental training with industrial work.
No one can visit the school to-day and see what it is doing in the class-room, in the farm, in the carpenter-shop, in the blacksmith-shop, in the sawmill, in the brickyard, in the printing office, in the laundry, in the sewing room, in the literary societies, and in the various religious exercises, - for the development of the head, hand and heart of the young men and women gathered there, without feeling profoundly thankful to God.
There are a few things about this school that are especially worthy of note: 1st. It is a live school. It believes in progress. It has never stood still a day since its organization. Every year it presents new evidences of growth and development. 2nd. It does what it aims to do thoroughly. It employs only well-qualified officers and teachers, and subjects all its pupils to the most rigid examination before sending them forth. 3rd. It is no sham affair, existing on paper only. It is all it represents itself to be, and more; and it does all it professes to do. 4th. Its funds are wisely and economically administered; there is no waste anywhere, everything is utilized, and utilized for the general good. The immediate work to which the school is committed, in its greatness and importance, seems to weigh upon every mind; and how to get the most out of what they have is the one thought. Hence the salaries are small and the working force is cut down to the smallest possible number, thereby increasing the burdens of the officers and teachers, but by them willingly, cheerfully endured, as it helps to keep down expenses; hence, also the buildings, as well as their furnishings, the food, etc., are all of the plainest character. An example of the rigid economy which characterizes everything there, may be found in the fact, that eight dollars will keep a young man there for a month, including everything, board, lodging, washing, mending, fuel and light. 5th. Every officer and teacher in it, from the beginning to the present, has been Colored. Whatever ability has been displayed therefore in the management of its affairs, and in working it up to its present high standard, we may justly claim as our own. In this particular it stands alone among the Colored institutions in our land. Not that there are no other schools that have proved a success under exclusively Colored management and direction, but none of such magnitude, whose success is so unquestioned, and where such large sums of money are expended annually.” (The New Man- https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/bruce/bruce.html)
There have been times in the history of HBCUs when presidents gathered to secure their future. The outcomes have often led to the creation of mighty moments and long-standing safeguards; examples offer the formation of the United Negro College Fund or the creation of the Atlanta University. This moment of gathering was no different. As 100 or so HBCUs still stand, the urgency of now enters the conversation.
With the exit of the Biden Administration, which acknowledged that HBCUs are underfunded, and the entrance of an anti-DEI administration, this significant gathering alerts us even further to the role of self-advocacy. As the attendees looked out at the Atlanta Airport through the meeting space windows, the world’s largest airport befittingly as the backdrop, staged the symbolism - we in the HBCU space are at a seminal crossroads.
THE MEETUP
The Centering Question was approached with cautious optimism. It is a now question that has incredible ramifications for tomorrow. What do HBCUs need right now from ourselves and funders to generate a sustainable future? This question isn’t new; I know I have heard it before, and the presidents around the table have heard it in myriad ways.
First, guidance for what is needed often reflects today's needs. Institutions are closing, donors are strategic and exclusive, students are critical consumers, and small private HBCUs continue to reflect the economic disparity fueled by a system of bias and racism. Given these facts, HBCU presidents must continuously monitor what is happening now while positioning the institution for the future.
The thrivability of these institutions seems untenable for those without large endowments, major gifts in the wings, and/or foundations readied for the next transformation. This conversation was to be different, citing the ongoing success of Howard, Morehouse, Spelman, and Claflin with their continued philanthropic support that seems effortless to the unaware. They are a wonderful view of what is possible; however, they are only four of 100+ HBCUs. If we, the other 100+ HBCUs, can locate a preeminent fiscal pathway to secure our financial future, we too can join the success story modeled by Howard, Morehouse, Spelman, and Claflin.
The HBCU leadership that participated in the convening represents institutions with average tuitions ranging between $17,500 and $28,000, offering affordable quality education for our communities' emerging and the mighty middle. The ability for these institutions to thrive should not rest solely on tuition, as the average Black family is still experiencing poverty rates that lead to inequality in our schooling, employment, and police brutality that is situated in many Black experiences regardless of economic circumstances (https://aframnews.com/the-importance-of-hbcu-alumni-giving-black/). These HBCU presidents gathered for this conversation not to wallow in the fiscal deficit that our reality illuminates. Rather, it is an embrace of what is possible and a moment of collaboration to shore up the seemingly impossible. We are reminded that there is no cure for racism; it doesn’t end because we call for an end or because of white benevolence. This convening was unapologetic in approaching the creation of a new framework in which we lead the way, again, in our liberation.
In 1903, when W.E.B. Dubois shaped the phrase “talented tenth” as a description/mandate for a cadre of Black people who would return from higher education achievement to their community as the hope and the dream, through their uplift, a communal opportunity for growth and social mobility, it worked as those first, second, and third waves of graduates moved through society tearing down barriers, engaging in battles for fairness, and sparking revolutions.
The gathering sought answers. If we are to rely only on our alumni to support our schools, we will fundamentally fail. If we are hoping that the tuition that we generate will sustain us, we will cease to exist, not because we don’t want to but because when we review the data, we see the impact of systemic racism. HBCU patterns of funding for consideration:
Alumni - 10% giving rates with slightly higher giving at private HBCUs (https://library.st-aug.edu/sau-among-top-hbcus-in-alumni-giving-faculty-student-r atio/). The national average is about 18 %
(https://pedagogue.app/hbcus-receive-alumni-donations-at-a-lower-rate-than-pwi s/).
Tuition (includes room and board) Rates (private-4 year) - $17,000 to $48,000 https://educationdata.org/private-vs-public-college-tuition
Today, Blacks still are educated in public schools that are extremely underfunded, ensuring academic challenges throughout the child’s experience. When they do access college and graduate, they still make less on the dollar than their white counterparts (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/07/01/racial-gender-wage-gaps-persist-in). This quietly loud impact, which we will call the "catching up effect," is the continuous reach of HBCUs to equality and equity. At our gathering of these brilliant HBCU leaders, they did not lament these are too familiar across the HBCU bloodline. This group gathered to look beyond this truth to create a new one.
Creating a new set of truths for HBCUs during the gathering led to an interactive conversation that considered the Great Question. SeaChange Capital Partner’s Managing Partner, John MacIntosh, joined the discussion as a tacit contributor to the discourse as these HBCU leaders connected around their vision for the future of HBCUs. The Great Question was answered at this convening with three emerging outcomes. The argument is that philanthropy for the emerging fiscal and mighty middle institutions is often experienced by trickle effect, unevenly spread across the HBCU landscape (https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2023/12/29/10-richest-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/). Hoping that alumni will support our institutions into thrivability is unfair when we know there is a disparity between alumnus’ love for our institutions and their economic reality. Alums of mighty middle HBCUs often don’t have the resources to save our schools, so when Presidents gather to establish a path forward, the reality is that our alums are often the middle class, so their donations are generously aligned with their economic situation. Major gifts are an anomaly for particular HBCUs. Perhaps that is why MacKenzie Scott's gifts were exciting, as that type of gift is incredibly transformative for these institutions. It is also why the gathering was important because those gifts are short of miraculous, and waiting for them is akin to the ways the ancestors waited for freedom for 400 years as the enslaved. It will come…but when? These institutions can’t afford to wait any longer.
This group, embracing a Booker T. Washington entrepreneurial spirit, WEB Dubois intellectual courage, and Mary McLeod’s political savvy, pursued the great question: How can HBCUs (re)gain a higher level of fiscal thrivability? HBCUs are multi-million dollar enterprises in the unique position of educating Black people, from Black traditions of excellence and genius. We have been “Punching Above Our Weight” since our inception; we have been proving our impact for too long while not reaping the benefits of partnerships that center us and our incredible ability to achieve.
24 HOURS: AN 8:35 AM CONVERSATION
The gathering conversation began with an intellectual invocation for what had to happen because “smart folks came together on the precipice of doing amazing things.” The coming together challenged the false notion that HBCU leaders don’t collaborate. In 2020, before the global pandemic, Wilberforce University, led by Dr. Elfred Anthony, set out to generate collaborative agreements with Central State University (and other institutions not in such proximity). Central State University is a public institution, birthed out of Wiley University which is located across the street with more financial resources. What evolved was a series of conversations that offered a solution to a major crisis that had been recurring for years: housing. The collaboration led to the establishment of an entrepreneurial-focused residence hall that solved the immediate student housing crisis at Wilberforce University. From this collaboration, it could be learned that shared service partnerships can have power dynamics. Being aware and able to articulate concerns of collaboration can level set for the emerging partnership. To disarm the potential for inequity, the communication of what is needed and why each President or institution comes to the table to navigate these moments is vital. Shared experiences are not just mutual moments for shared needs; they are an exercise in equitable partnerships and the removal of competition. Engagement in these shared service experiments is often touted as a savior for reducing fiscal woes for institutions; however, when we highlight and consider multiple viewpoints and ideas, a more potent and more collaboratively beneficial solution for partnership can emerge.
For ten years, the Higher Education Leadership Foundation (H.E.L.F.) has been considering how collective engagement through increasing leadership and leaders is fundamental to the strength of HBCUs. “Innovation and Collaboration is a new form of dominance,” according to Benedict College President & CEO Roslyn Clark Artis. Traditionally, mergers have been an entry point that has created barriers to possible partnerships. The convening conversation identified an important centering point: mergers have been considered. Perhaps the most examined merger was Dalton State University with Albany State University in 2015. Dr. Arthur Dunning, retired President of the consolidated Albany State University (which includes Dalton State University), presented how to navigate the painstaking considerations necessary.
Shared experiences are framed as extreme but are happening. The work of retired President Dunning has paved a pathway that invites us to generate these interventions not out of crisis but to create prosperity. Leaders beginning with conversations about how to strategically and intentionally rally around partnerships and shared services is transformational.
The other component of this paradigm shift is what we require of philanthropic partners. As with shared services partnerships, those seeking philanthropic partners should strive to enter from a new vantage point of intentional collaborators. SeaChange Capital Partners has been exploring these types of collaborations for the past couple of years. The organization was established to engage other non-profits as they are navigating financial challenges and support the exploration of mergers and joint ventures. The organization has worked from the ethos that all organizations have challenges, even the best. The higher education landscape has seen an uptick in higher education institutions seeking assistance. As a result, SeaChange Capital Partners, along with other funders, raised $4 million to create a transformational fund. The funds and distribution purpose created a contrary for those entities that have historically intentionally and unintentionally sought to exploit higher education institutions in trouble. SeaChange is leading the way by re-imagining its funds to also include transformational opportunities that support these experiential partnerships.
LET US NOT FORGET…
The continuous investment in ourselves requires an unrelenting interest in truth. HBCUs are the aftermath of two opposing practices: Black oppression and Black resistance. We can not forget that in the quest for a thrivability model, serious historical impacts and current threats make these relationships challenging. Truth and trust have been elusive because of the treatment and myth of a post-racial society. In Race, History, and Higher Education in the Deep South, retired President Arthur Dunning, frames the Great Question of that our convening had to unpack- the hard-won victories that leadership established for HBCUs must be protected and built upon. In South Africa, the impact of the Apartheid Regime was narrated for the world to see. Our observations were not only about the reconciliation of the feelings and pain suffered by the native South Africans (Blacks), but the contradictions lived out through separate physical, governmental, and social spaces. As a nation, we have watched HBCUs generate the Black intelligentsia, middle and upper-class entrepreneurs, inventors, scientists, and musicians – reaching every industry. And yet, these institutions must regularly convince America that they are worthy of support in transformational ways.
OUR POWER IS FROM WITHIN
The leaders who convened have generated a pathway forward, capturing the spirit of the architects. The blueprint is not only their own but a collaboration, a call for the resurgence of the ideas that had sustained our institutions. To create a 21st-century blueprint that centers our ability to thrive for the future—through the novel idea of economic independence—without apology.
Economic independence reimagines the required philanthropic relationship, which currently is a lifeline for these institutions. For many of the institutions present, a gift of $5 million would be transformative. Transformational gifts are extremely important to HBCUs, particularly small, private, liberal arts institutions, because of their dependence on enrollment and fundraising, two revenue journeys without which these institutions cannot exist.
Perhaps the sentiment is that institution leaders are tired of this model of “hopeful revenue.” The sentiment and impetus of the gathering were to investigate ways to go forward. Operating budgets continue to rise due to the cost of doing business. The multimillion-dollar entities are in the business of generating academic and intellectual practitioners and industry leaders/contributors; they must do so with balanced budgets. Tuition raising and workforce reduction are often the most revenue- or cost-saving strategies that leadership employs. Still, they are not long-term, sustainable, or fixed strategies.
Other ways institutions generate funds are through leveraging assets for loans. Institutional risks include high interest rates and an inability to pay back due to flat or declining enrollment. These three strategies leave institutions with little choice but to move forward, become financially sustainable, and maintain their thrivability. This H.E.L.F. strategic convening conversations about shared services arose from the search for long-term and radical changes to the traditional business plan. In addition to the previous example of housing, other common shared services in the higher education sector are in the areas of:
Food Services
Technology
Public Safety
Human Resources (HR)
Enrollment services
Procurement Services
The next layer includes areas that are important but not necessarily easily designed for a collaborative experience without outsourcing.
Finance and Accounting Services
Facilities Management
Student Services
Research Support Services
These are often the easiest to implement for various reasons, but they are not revenue-generating actions but cost savings. Regardless, in the philosophical nature of HBCUs' promise, the ability to keep costs down does offer some resolution to these institutions' financial woes. However, the goal for these institutions isn’t simply cost savings but to genuinely create revenue streams that can bear fruit outside of normal operations and enrollment uncertainty.
President Hakim Lucas of Virginia State University articulated the gravity of the HBCU space, not only as bastions of academic excellence, but they often were the “first Black private corporations” in our states. This distinction means one thing: we are the hope and continue to be the ones we are waiting for. Consider if HBCU leadership and philanthropy partners approached our institutions as corporations for the educational and social good. There is a fine line between leading these historic institutions as businesses for capitalistic purposes, deviating from their collective good, and using social good practices to generate more fiscal stability to strengthen our communities. They are not the same and should be highlighted as unique pathways.
Martin and Malcolm, Washington and Dubois were philosophical rivals on the how, not necessarily the end result. Sometimes, we focus on their viewpoints as oppositional rather than understanding that they, in many ways, wanted the same thing: Black Freedom. The gathering offered another opportunity to explore this idea, that we may not all agree on how to achieve our thrivability, but we were willing to consider this option - should HBCUs reinstate pre-Civil Rights movement models of revenue generation that align with industry for tomorrow?
There has been precedence in the vision of HBCUs as academic AND entrepreneurial enterprises. Today, we have seen some unique takes on the practices; private HBCUs have examples in Hampton University and PepsiCo or Paul Quinn University as a work college. Integrating operations into revenue is not an easy orchestration. Public HBCUs have research-based funding streams (for example - agriculture and STEM) and/or small enterprises; some even have credit unions. Langston University has a catfish farm, and Tuskegee University has goat farms. Innovation offers excitement; practicality is where possibility meets challenge.
WHAT IS NEXT: ENTREPRENEURIAL IDEAS
When HBCU leadership gathers, one can imagine that there will be many ideas. This section interprets the incredible ideas that emerged from the presidents’s conversations in those 24 hours at the convening. These ideas offer us dreams; their collaboration solidifies a path forward, and their commitment inspires.
HBCU leadership involved in this experience invites us to evolve our historical models into more viable and scalable experiences that not only solve pressing problems of financial complexity but also increase the fiscal vitality of these institutions for their future. The pressing problems that HBCUs face are broad; some include IT services, health insurance, housekeeping, CRM, and institutional effectiveness analytics. Creating a consortium that offers shared cost savings could manage these things. Universities daring enough to try something different in their business models are necessary and so is trust. How do we trust these entities not to steal the intellectual property they will come across, and how will we balance the peering eyes seeking the secret sauce that allows us to “punch above our weight?” The quest for partners who want HBCUs to have the most extraordinary access to self-reliance is not for the faint of heart. Businesses that can be mindful of the unique challenges faced by HBCUs, navigate institutional distrust, and provide, as well as benefit from, the knowledge and secret sauce found at our institutions are not easily found.
IT solutions, creating our brand, white labeling our systems, and selling to others are considerations. Thinking about the extraordinary talent on our campus, our instinct has been to prepare them for industry. What would happen if HBCUs served as IT incubators, spaces where we could generate and sell it to others? Could a group of HBCUs become a tech conglomerate? Creating their own brand (-insight from VUU President & CEO Hakim Lucas).
As an example, when Dawn Staley won the NCAA Championship, it stimulated conversations about HBCUs and sports. HBCUs were the athletic powerhouses pre-desegregation. They would lose that dominance as PWIs began accepting Black players. This is not to say that there are no superior athletes at HBCUs, but that there are very few multi-million/billion dollar “fields” or “courts” at our institutions. Sports are a cornerstone of the HBCU experience, but it can no longer draw the steady stream of NFL, NBA, and other athletic hopefuls. We believe it isn’t because of our talent, but the machines that control the pathway simply don’t see us. The idea is to create our own draft process, our own draft days, and design our own opportunities with intentionality.
Entrepreneurial leaders have ideas; they are also eager to deploy them. We have also already determined that institutions with the right leaders can create stellar academic experiences and exquisite revenue streams for the institution. We are in the era of the gig economy, recognizing that leaders are often strongest when they can deploy as educators, dreamers, and business leaders.
HBCUs are economic zones, some in the government sense through federal funding and all in the historical sense. We are communities that include the dynamics of urban and rural development or the lack of. It is here where another partnership strategy can be employed, creating revitalization right in our re-emerging communities. Many HBCU presidents have ideas for how to improve their student life and learning through community engagement that centers the campus as the focal point. A generous space for self-reliance exists if communities can have access to necessities, like grocery stores and Wi-Fi access points, along with learning. Curating the community around HBCUs is a delicate balance, acknowledging that trust here is important so we do not gentrify or improve ourselves out of existence. We know that sometimes our land becomes valuable, leaving us easy prey.
We also should incentivize not just the increase in enrollment and sports accolades but also the increase in revenue streams for the institution when an institutional leader increases the revenue streams. A CEO at the table who has those skills should be paid for it in ways outside of their salary. The title of CEO is not arbitrary; it speaks to the operational functionality of the leader in higher education spaces. In many companies, the CEO receives stock and equity in the company to motivate; higher education is a multi-million dollar enterprise and has the potential to generate revenue if we can align the intellectual and the entrepreneurial.
Drawing from the historical, philanthropy stirred innovation at HBCUs, ironically fueled self-reliance, and generated creation. Today, funding often solves a specific problem, such as scholarships, access programs, student support/success, research, STEM, mental health, etc., creating specific foci for funds. Rarely do these smaller private institutions receive transformational gifts for innovation that can stand up business ideas that generate revenue. These items are essential for partnership, but they influence a cycle of giving. I give you a gift, you spend on those items, next year a new gift is needed. No revenue was generated, no long-term strategy could be developed, and no future impact for the institution, other than those who were directly able to receive from those services. Can philanthropists see a re-emergence of educational philanthropy that returns to HBCUs as the places that produce talent and knowledge and are self-reliant because of their revenue model? We signal back to the Tuskegee University, which once generated many revenue streams, to the dismay of critics and awe of champions.
NEW ECOSYSTEMS
What institutions need are partnerships that also invest in ideas that can lead to thrivability for HBCUs. We know that to create the ecosystem, we have to address some fundamental concerns regarding the possibility. Through time and test, many HBCU leaders have observed some roadblocks in the collective likelihood for these ideas.
Trust. Between 1932 and 1972, officials practiced experiments on Black men, in the now-famous Tuskegee Experiment. Countless other moments of mispractice, theft, and duplicity have long plagued individuals and groups engaged with Black people, our communities, and our HBCUs. We are often the recipients of near-predatory lending and dumping grounds for outdated or old stuff under the guise of support.
Resilience. HBCUs are masters at the art of resilience. The phrase “we make a way out of no way” is frequently spoken at meetings across the landscape. The years of racism that have led to poor funding, inequitable resources, and fluctuating leadership, have made for an incredible tiredness. Unfortunately for HBCU detractors, what would normally have destroyed the spirit, caused the opposite to happen, a re-awakening. Resiliency is an experience that is uniquely tied to HBCU leadership. This idea of resiliency has been our trademark, for better or worse. The worst is whether resiliency matters if it doesn’t save the institution funds or drive new revenue. Our small private HBCUs' lack of resources is often exposed when there is an exit in leadership, then that institution fights its way back, to view, never really able to address the issues. We continue this cycle until the loss of accreditation looms and then we rally.
The gathering wasn’t a moment to wallow in this cyclical reality. It was instead a demand to end it through thoughtful partnership. HBCUs want to be the training ground for today’s needs and for tomorrow’s careers and experiences that haven’t been created yet. The gathering offered a presidential glimpse of the H.E.L.F. ethos.
HBCU presidents in this convening are looking for ways to tap into unrestricted revenues, leverage purpose, and harness power through collaborations with the right partner. The Great Question that brought these presidents together drives the final thoughts, are there funders out there who would be excited about the kind of creativity coming out of the HBCU space, and to try something different? To be successful in this model, the convening presidents identified four keyframes for thought as they seek partnerships.
Frame 1 - Ask Vendors their why. What is the vendor trying to do? As small private HBCUs, we must disrupt our perceived vulnerability and use our agility to our advantage.
Frame 2 - We have agency. The centering of ourselves as the places of impact brings to bear that we are people we are waiting on. There is nothing that we haven't proven HBCUs can't contribute to. We aren't waiting for an outsider to save us. We are inviting partners to the table who believe that there is opportunity at HBCUs and want to invest in it. Many philanthropists and organizations are generous but do not believe things can be different.
Frame 3 - Understanding of what we need, have, and want as interconnected. The call for re-imagining the ways HBCUs are and are not invested in is from interconnected sets of realities. The call for shared services in such crucial areas as data gathering, IT services, talent management and acquisitions, shared endowments, and auxiliary services, to reduce cost and drive up profit.
The cost-sharing/shared services isn’t a request to stop there, it is to become a catalyst for agreeing to create and grow in business and joint ventures. Additional ideas include insurance brokerage, fundraising firm, institutional research, and educational technology, as pressing opportunities for innovation, that then can free leadership up to solidify ventures yet unseen.
Frame 4 - Organizations must be willing to be different and think with us, not for us. This gathering from H.E.L.F. and SeaChange Capital Partners provided an example of the potential of such a partnership. The convening invited and created a space for what mattered to HBCU leaders with no limitations to Dreaming Outloud Hold space together. Consider what you need, have, want, and demand from us. We dared to coalesce around a common goal for our HBCUs - to strengthen them into thrivability.
Together with an extraordinary purpose. We. See. Our. Worth. What is left is up to the collective us. To lead for the future of HBCUs.
Authors:
President & CEO Herman J. Felton, Jr., Ph.D., J.D. - Wiley University
Dr. Tashia L. Bradley, COO - Wiley University
Contributors:
President & CEO Roslyn Clark Artis - Benedict College
President & CEO Chris V. Reys - Barber-Scotia College
President Lester McCorn - Paine College
President & CEO Hakim J. Lucas - Virginia Union University
President & CEO Melva K. Wallace, Huston-Tillotson University
Interim President Marcus H. Burgess - St. Augustine University
Retired President Elfred Anthony Pinkard - Wilberforce University
Retired President Roderick L. Smothers - Philander Smith University
President Said Sewell - Morris College
Managing Partner John MacIntosh - SeaChange Capital Partners
Retired President Arthur Dunning - Albany State University
