 HBC judges radio welcome back to our presidential series today. We are speaking with will before his university president Dr Elford Anthony Picard who is the head of the team that just announced a Major 1.2 million dollar anonymous gift to the institution to support its fundraising efforts As it rounds out the final quarter of its year-long Fundraising effort so mr. President first great to have you back on this is a sizable gift and the biggest of a series of gifts You guys have received over the last several months from a variety of of donors and corporate friends What's been the reaction to this gift and where is? Will before us in relation with this with this support To its effort to raise some more resources That'll go towards Stabilizing and reaffirming its accreditation efforts great. Well. Thank you, Jerry First of all, let me thank you for this opportunity to speak with your audience about what's going on at will before us We're as you might imagine very excited about About this gift. There's been an incredible energy and excitement on campus this is the first time in a number of months that we've had some really good news and This suggests that someone other than ourselves believes in in what we're doing here at will before us and is willing to invest in us And invest in our future despite our current challenges And that's always a good thing and so we are very very excited about the momentum that this gift Has provided to the institution and also what it says to to recraft the narrative about about will before us And we're very excited about that With regard to our probation and those efforts, of course, as you might imagine anything that suggests that there's traction towards us curing our debt and Strengthening our financial bound bottom line is is going to put us in good stead with with with the accrediting body They are coming to visit the university actually in November and we've just sent off The announcement of this gift to our liaison officer at HLC keeping them abreast of what's going on So this can't do anything, but just make our case even stronger and And so we're very excited about this and and what it portends for the future of will before us So the donor wished to be anonymous and that you know, that's not unusual in higher education But in your conversations in your team's conversations with that person did they give any indication about What why was this a good time for such a gift? You know, you've been in the midst of a fundraising campaign throughout the year. You've been all over the place talking about it There's been a lot of traction on social media about it There's been some reaction from the community corporate and individual. Why was this a good time for their investment? well Two things one this was someone had that was very familiar with will before us in its place in HBCU history and And really felt this very strongly about that. I mean in in one conversation This person referred to will before as mother and I just thought that that was just such an emotional and such a powerful depiction of will before so I've heard that that said before and and I think that And of course, I don't want to speak for the donor I think that that our position as the nation's first HBCU privately owned and operated by people of African descent. I think that was very meaningful to them It was also an incident that they brought to my attention And I don't know whether this was a precipitating event for them for this gift We have been talking about this for a bit, but there was a local Outlet maybe not a local outlet, but there was an outlet recently That noted that will before us did not reach its two million dollar goal the goal that we had set for June and that the the headline was just not very positive it didn't speak to what was raised But in fact it spoke to what was not raised and I got a phone call about that and they said, you know This is just one of those things where you know, there's good news and there's bad news and the narrative keeps continuing also in that article One person that was quoted is someone who is really sort of this has been and continues to be interestingly the go-to person for all things HBCU and her comment was Yeah, her kind I think we know we're talking but her comment essentially she said and I was trying to pull up the article Actually for this this call so I could quote it But essentially I'm paraphrasing it said, you know, they're not going to be able to kind of rally from that and it really kind of was a death nail for us and I Just think that that comment for a lot of people and certainly for people that are emotionally Connected to will before it was just the kind of how dare you? provide such a Prognosis without knowing the spirit of this institution and the people who are working hard day-to-day To turn that around in in all honesty, we've been cultivating this for several months and Shortly after that we got a call and we began the process in earnest Whether that was an event that that caused this I don't know I know how it made me feel and it made it it bolded me and it had bolded my new vice president for Institutional advancement because I shared the peace with her and her response was just priceless and this was before she had come up come on board and so You know, we have to take all of this in In proper context, you know We're working here at an institution that came to be at a time when most people when When people that looked like most of us people of African descent were enslaved and so I say often that the idea of Wilberforce was bold and audacious Can you imagine people who were enslaved in the American South? people in the in Ohio suggesting that there could be a University and moving ahead and creating a university that was that was an incredible kind of vision and That continues to emboldened us and you know We've had fires and we've had a major split at this incident that almost Decimated Wilberforce in 1947. We've had accreditation issues. We've certainly had our financial issues and yet 163 years this institution still persists and And you just can't Quantify you can't put your finger on that kind of tenacity and resilience and for someone to really sort of count us out Prematurely, I think just kind of got all of us riled up. So that's all I'll say about that Well, I think that's a that's a that's a very kind way of putting it given the context of who was who was contacted to talk on it The details about this particular gift You know in fundraising there's as a language used You know to signal, you know, what what the intent of the gift is and this is labeled as a Incorrected from wrong a matching grant. So does this mean that that there is here's an investment that we have made and we hope that People will match it or we will match it once the institution has been able in earnest to to raise the same amount Great question, Jared. I'm glad you asked that because people have been asking about this Let me say this the money is in the bank That's important people have suggested, you know, no, no, we have $1.2 million the university has that money in fact I was insistent that we not do a press release until we actually had it until all of the legal legal Legal out legalities were were were done and so What the what this is and this is a result of now having a vice president who of institutional advancement who is a seasoned and Experience fundraiser as they were crafting the the press release. It was it was she who said Let's make this a matching Grant a mat. Let's make this match a match Which means then that we are now challenging folk Who care about will before and who have the wherewithal to match this 1.2 million if that makes sense So this was kind of we have this. Let's see if we can match it And then the final question I would ask is so we are I think that the campaign in whole was about five million dollars, correct Yes, it is. So you've had a micro campaign that goes well over, you know Two or three hundred thousand dollars you get 1.2 years and we're well in our way past 20% of the goal What is the the expectation from the individual and corporate partners? You know to reach the finish line in a strong way and you know to have HLC, you know again make the announcement Okay, Wilber force is good to go Well, we are we are valiantly pushing towards that five that five million by December 31st I mean that's been our push My as I mentioned I have a new VP for institution advancement Who has been with us all now of a weekend a day a week in two days and and she has come in again? experienced laying out a plan is laying out visits for me Talking about how we can leverage this gift She has a relationship with and experience with UNCS So we're talking about how we can leverage that relationship So what I can say is that that has been our focus and will continue to be our focus to make that 5 million by December 31st if we don't we will just continue And and just continue the work Continue to be focused continue to work hard And to continue to that North Star, but that's sort of where we are now