The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) president recently received a generous surprise: a second gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
The organization received a generous gift from Scott in 2020 to help with the sustainability of TMCF, the nation’s largest organization exclusively representing the Black college community. TMCF represents more than 314,000 students at its member institutions, which is approximately 80% of all students attending the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
“It’s an honor and a privilege to have another opportunity to thank MacKenzie Scott for her incredibly impactful and generous gift,” Dr. Harry L. Williams, president & CEO of TMCF, said. “The continued trust of her in the organization’s ability to steward this and achieve societal good is an incredible honor. We wake up every day excited to work on behalf of our member schools and students.”
Dr. Williams said the funding will enhance TMCF’s ability to provide access to education and professional development to ensure students at HBCUs, historically Black community colleges (HBCCs) and predominantly Black institutions (PBIs) are career ready.
“It’s part of our mission to ensure our students are workforce ready and placed in careers that enable them to make a difference in their communities and society as a whole,” Dr. Williams said. “Our corporate partners see the work we do, the impact we make and they want to build relationships with our phenomenal students.”
The unrestricted gift will allow for greater impact at TMCF as it strives to build upon its strategic pillars of scholarships and student investment; programmatic innovation and resources; talent discovery and development; research and advocacy; and institutional capacity building.
“As someone who has benefited from and witnessed the power of education, and has spent most of my life advocating not only for the public HBCUs, but all HBCUs, I am beyond proud of this gift and the impact I know it will make in our society,” Dr. N. Joyce Payne, founder of TMCF, said. “This gift strengthens our unwavering commitment to empowering the next generation of leaders and ensuring that our HBCUs remain at the forefront of American education.”
