INNOVATE

UNCF received 171,200 gifts from individuals in the form of checks and online donations. The average gift was $93, and the median gift was $25. This shows the great commitment of our UNCF donors, friends and supporters to its mission.

The past three fiscal years have shown tremendous growth via direct response efforts. In 2020 and 2021, everyone careened through the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its attendant high unemployment rates and worldwide shutdowns through social and racial justice demonstrations, and a presidential election and its aftermath. Since that time, heartrending issues of gun violence, high inflation and challenges to women’s and voting rights have all carried the uncertainty of the times forward.

Yet through the large and small social upheavals, UNCF’s donors, friends and supporters remained loyal. They acted without fail on their concern for UNCF students and how this world with its new normal will affect students’ pursuit of their college degrees. With their eyes on the future, donors’ generous gifts came in steadily and allowed UNCF to do more for our students and colleges than the year before.

Gifts that come in through UNCF’s direct response program support student scholarships and distributions to our schools to help them keep their costs affordable to our student populations. These gifts support tuition, room and board, books, laptops, PPE and fees for our students; and faculty development, infrastructure development and administrative support for UNCF-member HBCUs.

As the organization has learned, a small gift of $25, given from the heart truly does add up. Together, donors large and small continue to give online and through the mail, enabling UNCF to live up to the power of its motto, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”^®