HBCU Spelman College Receives $100M Donation, Largest In School’s History

Spelman College has received a $100 million gift from Ronda Stryker, the longest-serving member of the Spelman College Board of Trustees.

Ronda Stryker, the longest-serving member of the Spelman College Board of Trustees, and her husband, William Johnston, have made a $100 million donation to the HBCU, the largest in school history.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Spelman will use $75 million to fund endowed scholarships for future students. The remaining $25 million will be used to renovate dormitories, develop an academic focus on democracy and public policy, and provide flexible funding to support other needs.

Spelman College announces a record-breaking $100 million donation — the largest-ever single donation to any HBCU: “Today is a major step to ensure more young women can achieve their dreams.” pic.twitter.com/5Hqv7ixqR8
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) January 18, 2024

Stryker currently 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.

Spelman President Dr. Helene Gayle called the gift “transformational” for the school’s 2,600 female students and was brought to tears when she heard about the donation.

“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, according to the AJC.

Gayle added that this is a historical moment for HBCUs across the country, which are woefully underfunded when compared to Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). According to a 2021 report from the Century Foundation, the size of endowments per full-time student at private non-HBCU schools was, on average, seven times larger than that of private HBCUs.

This was not the only large donation made to HBCUs this year. Last week the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) announced it received a $100 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. The UNCF will use the money to create an endowment fund to be shared by three dozen HBCUs across the country, including Spelman College.

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.

Gayle added she hopes to raise enough money to meet the full need of students at some point, which she estimates would take $500 million.

The donation coincides with the 100th anniversary of the college’s name, which was changed from the Baptist Female Seminary to Spelman Seminary in 1884 in honor of Laura Spelman Rockefeller and her parents, Harvey Buel and Lucy Henry Spelman, longtime activists in the antislavery movement.