 HBCU Dodgers radio welcome back today. We are here to talk about a historic moment in the HBCU sector Stimming out of Morehouse colleges annual commencement exercises where billionaire philanthropist Robert F. Smith announced yesterday his intention To pay off more than 40 million dollars In outstanding student loan debt for the class approaching nearly 400 brothers leaving the institution with new bachelor's degrees so A really really important moment for HBCUs and we're here to talk about it today With former vice chancellor of institutional advancement at Elizabeth City State University Dr. John Michael Lee Also a proud graduate of florida and in university with executive stops at femu as well as the association of public and land grant university So brotherly great to have you on again as a friend of the show and an expert voice on this This truly historic moment for HBCUs Yes, thank you for having me. I think it's a it's a great day And great week great month great year for HBCUs the gift by our robert smith Was was definitely resonating everywhere on social media and I think in in in Newspapers across the country and I think it's really a great time for HBCUs to really think about what has happened And really take that momentum to another level Talk about so I want to count with you get behind the scenes of something like this, right? Because you've had fundraising success at a lot of your stops But something like this where someone decides i'm going to do something transformative Is that something that in your experience the school kind of Throws the alley up and says hey look this this is what we think would be a good idea Or do you take the cues from the perspective donor and say Okay, what do you want to do and let's try to guide you on the best way to implement it Probably a bit of both and I think more house college shows you how you can do both So you see that Robert Smith first gave a 1.5 million dollar gift to more house college To help with some of the initiatives yet. Yes to help with some of the initiatives that were Where were other universities Making but I also think this is a part of that billionaire deciding that he wanted to do something transformative And he wanted to do something different But it helps that he was nurtured along by the president and all those who had a hand In and making that gift possible And so it shows that if you have a good plan and you have the stewardship great things can really happen When you see a gift like this, um, and this is really unique because I can't recall Either in the historically black space or otherwise someone saying I'm going to pay off debt Which in a lot of ways is more than just a gift, uh, you know Benefiting the name of a school and specifically an hbcu, but you're now freeing up Wealth opportunities or wealth building opportunities for each of those graduates They have greater greater latitude for graduate school and to afford that greater latitude for a home or to start a business Is this something that you see and to pull a quote from his his speech robert smith's speech Something that you think will come back to morhouse in short order in the way of those graduates saying i'm i'm i'm getting ready to pay this back to my alma mater You know, it's interesting one of the quotes that I saw today was you know Every one of those graduates should be a donor and and they really should because one of the things that he talked about in his speech Was paying it forward and I think one of the reasons why he wanted to Pay for the the debt of those young men And so that they had an open opportunity to go out and really take Chances and contribute to the world and really get to success And so then that they can pay it back to others as they move ahead not just for themselves before their communities as well And so I think that a part of this is you know by canceling that that can those young men also become a part of Doing great things for more house in the future based off of this unique opportunity that was given to them But what's also interesting is this is similar to a gift that uh john thompson Used when he gave to florida new university a five million dollar gift, which was the largest for famu So what john thompson did as a part of that when dr. Mayn was there was also pay off student Debt for students who graduated in four years and didn't have scholarships to go through school So much more limited Then the paying off a whole class But definitely that same intent by by not Shouldering people in debt. They have more opportunities to go out there take more risk To excel and then to give back and so I think that that is a really really great when you're investing in human capital And not just in institutions I think that is something that is is can be transformative for an institution Just imagine how some of the classes from harvard have been able to give back to harvard universities And now more house has that same Opportunity more house is really unique because it it is less than 3000 students But its brand its endowment Its resonance in the culture don't speak as a small school so to speak um You've had experience at large flags of institutions smaller public institutions What are some of the the key strategies that you would say that particularly for smaller institutions? They can do to encourage or to build culture around Philanthropy that can lead to a big a big time donation or a big time gift or even a big time relationship that will eventually pay off Well, you know one thing I think is the obama model How can you get more people who can give a small amount of money to make large impacts because you're getting in their numbers And so I thought about this um as you know, family has over 80,000 grand If 80,000 of those family grads gave $500 Just $500 that will be 40 million dollars and they could do the same thing on a yearly basis That we rely on one person to do it in one time And so when we think about how far apart these gifts have been and how rare they are in the hbc community We want to have more but there are only so many black billionaires in in the world I mean we can't uh all go to opera and we can't all go to robert fllift to say hey come pay off for our debt For our students, but what we can do is use this momentum as a way to say how can I invest? How can I do more? How can our loans do more? One of the things we calculated that is 20,000 ecsu loans is just a hundred of those from every graduating class Gave $20 a month or 120,000 120 dollars a year that will lead to almost $700,000 an unrestricted income for the university that he could use to keep kids in schools and to do things like that And so I think the challenge is not how do we necessarily replicate what has just happened at more house But how can we use that platform to say our students are worth investing in and we need all of our loans and all of our Stakeholders to come and give what they can towards that goal There's a lot of wealth in our communities It's how we channel that wealth and can we give them the promise of something that is going to be beneficial to Everyone in the long term and I think that he saw that at more house Mr. Smith saw that at more house doctor Smith sorry saw that at more house and I think that he Saw that that those students will work that investment And I think that if all of us who have who received our degrees makes you think the same thing Then we can actually accomplish that In numbers and do it on a yearly basis versus just doing it looking for the one-time donor looking for The next opera or someone to come in or the next boom picking And so I think that that has to be a part of the strategy to think that we we won't necessarily be able to replicate this over and over again Because there's not a dirt of black millionaire But what we will be able to do Whether your big school or small school is to be able to reach out to our long galvanized them Make them understand that even though small dollars can go a long way And so just imagine even if you did half of that every if 80,000 family grad Did 20,000 a month or 120 dollars a year total That would equal almost 10 million dollars a year to the university I'm restricted that's enough to fund the entire athletics program at florida and the university And that's how we have to start thinking about Well, and how we have to start thinking about how we're going to go after The those gifts and to have that transformative type of experiences in the future How do you reverse some of the stereotypes and culture? That specifically around surround hbcs, but they're all over higher education. They're all over giving period, which is one I didn't like my experience. So I ain't giving back or two I want to give But I don't feel that my gift will make a difference my 20,000 month will make a difference or I don't feel that if unless I give 10,000 dollars or more I won't receive the recognition. I feel that I'm due Like somebody who can give hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions So how do you kind of address those two areas of concern or Areas that give people pause about giving One is I would throw those stereotypes out the door One we know that when churches we know there's several churches black churches that big churches that they give at record numbers They produce lots of money So the idea that african americans don't give or that people in general don't give is just not true But what is true is that you have to be able to galvanize to give them a reason and give them a purpose So there is some onus on institution that means the institution has to do more marketing And sometimes we have to teach it We have to teach it not only in the classrooms for the students who are currently there But we have to teach it for those who've already left we have to show them the impact And so it's not just something that they should wake up and say oh, I know what the impact is We should be telling them what that impact is. We should be reaching out and talking to our donors Making them understand we should be teaching them about wealth how they can give to us that we should tell them You can give us your homes. You can give us stock You can give us other things that are just as valuable as money You could take out a you may not be able to give a $25,000 right out of your bank account But what you can do is you could go and pay $100 or $200 or something a month on a policy That was then paid out $25,000 or $50,000 to that university upon your death So there are other ways we can start thinking about plan giving and ways to give that that doesn't require a big gift But every gift should be celebrated no matter how big and how small So whether it's uh, posting that donor's name Giving them a shout out on facebook every donor should be thanked For the work that they do And in enough and a lot of places what's happening is is that our hbc's just don't have the financial fiscal resources To really be able to go out and and get the money like other places like more experience and more mature stock And so we have to figure out a way to use the mechanisms that we have With us to be able to get that message out to our loans and to our supporters because he's not in the long of hbc Right, um, but he he's a supporter. There's there those who still believe Uh in in the foundation that has been laid who believe what benjamin lager made Uh thought about when he was at more house and who believe in the hbc your experience and in the hbc graduates And so I think that is uh where we have to really focus Just to round it out. There there's been a lot of games made in the hbc community with campaigns Um successful capital campaigns micro campaigns We've specifically seen some growth In alumni given particularly under younger graduates you've had some success there at florida and them at elizabeth city What are some of the the the things that you have been proudest of in your career? That have specifically reached out to younger people and you and I have talked about this privately because with younger people There's a challenge of I don't like the experience or I love the experience and i'm just i'm I have a family now I have young kids um, so the way that they um look at philanthropy is a little bit different right now But what are some of the things in which you take the most pride that have specifically galvanized young folks So start giving back and creating a culture that will last 30 40 50 years Well, one of the things is is is reaching out to younger people So when you think about the the 10 for 10 challenge at famu on the sega Sega rose uh green or you think about some of the things that have happened the talent is there the passion is there What has to really happen there is how do we encourage that passion and allow them to grow? Like for example, uh, one of our alums at famu is that uh, there's a facebook group and it's a giving group And they have what's called black? Giving dollar day And they choose a project on the campus and it may be a small project something like um, I think most recently they had Uh, the championship rings for the tennis team that couldn't afford those rings Well, they came up with the money and and and they saw those rings and the team the tennis team who won the championship To be at championship actually sent back Thank you the video to let all of those donors know that they really appreciated their donation So it can be really small things But what I love the most is encouraging that type of giving Uh and type of spirit amongst all our alums who understand that they can help and they can help organize and they can Help your part I think one of the key differences is understanding the difference between our younger alums and our more seasoned alums our seasoned alums give out of a sense of Uh obligation almost like our tithers to the church Uh, well younger alums don't do that. Uh, they give for a very specific reason They give because they want to see impact they give because they want to see growth They require a little bit more communication. They want to know what's happening They want it to be done in a professional way And they've gone to graduate schools that uh, they hear from and that adore things and they want to be cultivated And so engaging a young alum may be a little bit different Especially millennials and it goes against what we have done for a very long time But we have to be innovative and so one of those things I've loved to do is that we have an annual gathering at ecsu called biking fest And what we've been able to do is turn that into a giving opportunity. So we started to recognize our 40 and the 40 They all agreed to um to raise or donate themselves a thousand dollars And every last one of those 40 and the 40 members have met that goal But even further than that, we didn't just bring them in and and also honor them We also allowed them to become a part of what they're trying to change And so they have been a part of Creating other unique opportunities for alums to come back and give and making donations back to the university So when you talk about building that culture, that's what I've enjoyed the most It's building a culture among young alums and our seasonal alums together and letting them see the effects that they can have If they work together and if they are all on the same page