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The year 2020 was plagued by a global health pandemic. COVID-19 and the coronavirus threatened individuals, industries, and institutions around the world. Millions of people around the world have been negatively impacted and affected in the wake of this health crisis. This crisis touched every aspect of human life and human interaction, creating a climate unlike any other experienced. One of the many institutions negatively impacted by COVID-19 were America's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). As a result of the pandemic, HBCU leaders have had to reimagine what the historically black college experience can and should be on their campus. Reimaging the HBCU experience is not an easy or enviable endeavor. HBCUs have long been a conduit, a driving force for socioeconomic and sociocultural advancement. However, reimagining is necessary if HBCUs are to remain true to this calling. As a collective group, to survive COVID-19's effects and thrive beyond 2020, HBCUs will have to reimagine themselves and their direction. The author provides a cursory view of how HBCU leadership can utilize this book as a tool for reimagining their campus, college, and community connection.

According to the most recent Giving USA report, charitable contributions in the United States total over $410B. ¹ While education is the second-largest slice of the pie, receiving over $58B, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) lag predominantly white institutions (PWIs) in their ability to raise funds for their institution. HBCUs struggle to capture the sustained attention of alumni, lack resources to adequately fund advancement operations and require a new level of skills and strategy to support the survival of our institutions beyond 2020.

This chapter will describe how HBCUs can move from fundraising to continuous philanthropy and understand the building blocks necessary for an optimized advancement operation required to sustain our institutions and the students we serve. Using the framework designed by AMAtlas Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey advancement leaders can develop strategies by making data-driven decisions. In the most recent VSE survey, only 26 HBCUs participated, which does not elevate the relevance and power of philanthropy at our institutions. ² Additionally, practical points highlight how we can strategically partner and support Alumni Associations when social media and virtual opportunities are more commonplace than ever before. Our institutions must embrace emerging trends and tax advantage opportunities while leveraging events in ways that enhance philanthropy as opposed to serving as the dominant strategy each fiscal year.

University presidents and governing board members rely heavily on philanthropy as an external revenue source to support the operations and expansion of their institutions. With tuition revenue models outpacing what our students can afford, the demand on advancement will become more important in the future. Institutional leadership must have the best understanding of what philanthropy is and is not, and how their leadership and vision can support a culture of philanthropy needed to thrive in a competitive higher education marketplace.

Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) constitute a vibrant sector within the American system of higher education – one with a unique and vital mission. Moreover, this sector comprises many diverse segments, each with their own particular characteristics, challenges, and opportunities. To be successful in our present postsecondary context and beyond, HBCU leaders must understand their institutions' positions within the larger sector and actively manage key dimensions of institutional performance. In support of these twin imperatives, this chapter will begin by offering an overview of the HBCU sector, its mission, and the characteristics of its institutions. The chapter will next present trend data for four critical areas of postsecondary organizational management: institutional resources, market demand, access, and affordability. The chapter will conclude by considering the implications of the trend data for the future and articulating various strategies campus leaders should pursue to ensure long-term institutional survival and success.

In order to survive beyond 2020, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) will need to strengthen their financial standing. Compared to predominately white institutions, HBCUs have substantially weaker financial resources. Without strong fundraising and effective financial management, HBCUs are doomed beyond 2020. The importance of hiring astute financial managers at HBCUs cannot be overstated. History, tradition, and reputation are irrelevant at an institution if the finances are not optimally managed. Moreover, state and federal higher education policies can damage the financial standing of HBCUs, as seen in the 2013 PLUS loan crisis. This chapter will be divided into two sections. The first section will provide a historical and contemporary perspective on financing HBCUs, including how state higher education policies impact HBCUs. The second section of the chapter will provide an overview of budget management at HBCUs.

In 1994, Henry Cisneros, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, created the Office of University Partnerships (OUP) to streamline resources and serve as a hub for universities to share best practices for addressing external needs of their communities. The creation of OUP was a direct result of what was occurring in urban cities across the country. As crime, poverty, and infrastructure deterioration increased in urban communities from the mid-1970s through the early 1990s, anchor institutions, specifically institutions of higher learning, developed strategic partnerships to fulfill their core missions, beyond the campus proper. Today, these higher education anchor institutions are committed to improving the quality of life by working together on health and wellness, access to education, poverty in urban cities, reduced crime, affordable housing, and access to food and basic needs. Additionally, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are aligning efforts with elected officials to strengthen, or in some cases implement, sustainable infrastructure and economic development projects. The author provides a cursory look at how HBCUs and their leadership can aid in resolving community-wide issues as anchor institutions.

The Department of Education has declared historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) a rich resource for the nation – one that elicits pride and connotes achievement, according to its Website. ¹ Those same institutions are grappling with an increasingly competitive environment in higher education. HBCUs remain a formidable force, but the question remains: How can they continue to compete and thrive in the complex, dynamic world of academe?

The answer: By playing to their strengths and forging new paths.

Essentially, HBCUs' greatest strength is their cultural makeup. Higher education is becoming increasingly competitive as universities of all sizes battle smaller population, a thriving economy, and less interest in academia (and its resulting debt). HBCUs, which have long been able to attract African-American students due to their status as cultural icons, now find themselves losing ground not only due to these issues but also due to the integration of institutions and the inflated costs of these mostly private institutions.

Some options that administrators have considered include merging with other institutions, marketing themselves to students of other races or nationalities, and creating specialized offerings (drone technology, for example) to remain competitive. But there is another option, and that is to take their strength – attracting African-American students – and create partnerships with corporations, government entities, and predominantly white institutions (PWIs).

The goal of such partnerships would be to increase philanthropic donations from and provide cultural exchanges and perspectives to diversity-sparse professional and education institutions that have nothing to lose and everything to gain by helping to produce well-trained workers of color.

This chapter would explore how HBCUs can develop private partnerships and leverage them to compete in today's world of higher education.