A $100 million gift to Spelman College is the largest single donation to the private Atlanta school and also holds that record for any historically Black college or university, officials announced Thursday.
The historic contribution comes from Ronda Stryker, the longest-serving member of Spelman’s Board of Trustees, and her husband, William Johnston. Stryker sits on the board of directors of Stryker Corp., a Michigan-based medical technologies firm founded by her grandfather. Johnston is chairman of Greenleaf Trust, an investment banking firm.
The college will use $75 million to fund endowed scholarships for future students. The remaining dollars will go to renovate dormitories, to develop an academic focus on democracy and public policy, and to provide flexible funding to support other needs.
Dr. Helene Gayle, who became Spelman’s president in 2022, described the gift as “transformational” for the women’s college that enrolls nearly 2,600 students. Gayle said she was brought to tears when she learned of the gift.
“...(T)he ability to secure the future for the kinds of young women that I see every day on campus was just awe-inspiring and incredibly, deeply emotional and deeply moving,” Gayle said in a phone interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
She said it also heralds a significant moment for the nation’s HBCUs, which have long received far less philanthropic support than their non-HBCU counterparts.
“I hope this is a message that says HBCUs that already punch well above their weight are worth investing in. We know that there’s a huge return in investment,” Gayle said.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Last week, the United Negro College Fund announced during an event in Atlanta it received a $100 million unrestricted grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. The UNCF plans to use the money to create a pooled endowment fund to be shared by about three dozen HBCUs nationwide, including Spelman.
A 2021 report from the Century Foundation found the size of endowments per full-time student at private non-HBCU schools was, on average, seven times larger than that of private HBCUs. Among public colleges, non-HBCU endowments averaged about three times the size of those at historically Black schools, according to that study.
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
Spelman students learned about the $100 million donation Thursday morning at Sisters Chapel during an assembly shown live on CBS Mornings.
Stryker previously has donated about $70 million to Spelman, said Gayle. That includes a $30 million gift in 2018 for the Center for Innovation & the Arts, construction of which is slated to finish next year.
The philanthropist joined the Spelman board 27 years ago and currently serves as its co-vice-chair. In a statement, Stryker said she feels “strongly that education can be both powerful and transformational, especially for women.”
“I have seen first-hand the enormous impact financial investment has generated for Spelman’s highly talented students. It’s important to me that all women be provided an opportunity to explore their talents, challenge their self-doubts and realize the power of achieving individual success,” the statement said.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Spelman aims to remove financial barriers that make it hard for many students to attend, and the new donation will support need-based scholarships, Gayle said. About 40% of students are eligible for federal Pell Grants, awarded to low-income students, and 80% of Spelman students get some kind of need-based aid, she said.
Spelman’s average annual cost — which includes tuition, fees and living expenses minus the average grants and scholarships for federal financial aid recipients — is about $29,000, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard.
“It breaks my heart to have letters and notes from students who clearly could use the experience here ... whose parents have to take out large amounts of loans just to keep them in,” said Gayle.
Gayle hopes to raise additional dollars so that, at some point, Spelman can meet the full need of its entire student body. That would take about $500 million more, she estimated.
Spelman sophomore and student trustee Zoe Shepard, 19, said the school’s traditions and sisterhood were big reasons she chose to attend. This donation will open doors for students who couldn’t previously consider Spelman because of the cost.
“I also was really touched by the idea that someone was just invested in Spelman and saw all the things that we see as students and the things that I cherish about my own Spelman experience,” said Shepard, a health science student from Cobb County.
The college also plans to use some of the donation to support academic work in public policy and democracy. Gayle said that planning is still in the early stage. And as soon as possible, she said Spelman will begin to update residence halls, some of which lack air conditioning, and make other student housing upgrades.
The donation coincides with the 100th anniversary of the college’s name. Though the school dates back to 1881, it became known as Spelman College in 1924.
Other major gifts to U.S. colleges
Donors have historically contributed massively to the nation’s colleges and universities. Among the most generous gifts are:
June 2023: The Simons Foundation gave $500 million to Stony Brook University in New York.
May 2022: John and Ann Doerr gave $1.1 billion to Stanford University’s School of Sustainability.
November 2018: Michael Bloomberg gave $1.8 billion to Johns Hopkins University, his alma mater.
November 1979: Robert and George Woodruff gave 3 million shares of Coca-Cola stock, then valued at $105 million, to Emory University.
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