Post by Bornthrilla on Oct 11, 2004 8:34:35 GMT -5
Woman gives A&T millions
10-8-04
By Robert Bell Staff Writer
News & Record
A North Carolina woman who attended N.C. A&T but never graduated has pledged $10 million to the university, by far the single largest donation in the school's 113-year history.
Howroyd
Janice Bryant Howroyd founded ACT 1 Group, the largest female-owned, minority-owned staffing agency in the nation. Two years ago, school officials asked Howroyd to lead the public phase of A&T's ambitious $100 million capital campaign. Last year, Howroyd decided to donate more than her time, arranging for the school to be the beneficiary to a $10 million life insurance policy -- a so-called "planned donation" in the parlance of academic giving.
"To say this is historic for our university is a huge understatement,'' Chancellor James Renick said Thursday. "This gift, like all the others we receive, will help the next generation of students and the generation after them."
Howroyd, 51, is expected to be at A&T this morning when the gift is formally announced. She was flying from California and could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
The gift is the second-largest of its kind among the nation's so-called historically black colleges and universities, according to Renick. It is believed to be the largest donation to any Guilford County university or college.
Renick said the donation is earmarked for the school's ongoing capital campaign fund and can be spent any way the chancellor deems fit.
The campaign has raised $67 million.
Before Thursday's announcement, A&T's single largest donation had been slightly more than $3 million by automaker Ford.
Renick said he was shocked when Howroyd approached him last year with the offer. "But that shock quickly gave way to jubilation and then to pride that there are other people out there who are so deeply committed to education," he said.
A&T's gift is all the more remarkable given the struggle school fund-raisers are up against amidst a dreary economy. Donors are making fewer long-term commitments and scaling back the size of their gifts, college officials say.
Planned giving, in which a person defers their assets at a later date, is critical at a time when many donors are inclined to put off their philanthropy.
Two years ago Guilford College surpassed its $50-million campaign goal, in part because of a strong program of planned giving.
Howroyd briefly attended A&T in the early 1970s before leaving the school. In 1978, she moved to Los Angeles to live with her sister, one of seven siblings who graduated from A&T.
Shortly after arriving in California, she decided to open an employment agency of her own. With a $1,500 family loan, she leased a small office.
Today her company grosses more than $500 million in annual revenue.
In 2002, Howroyd returned to A&T and received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree.
A&T also announced Thursday the school had raised another $2.4 million through individual and business contributions. Among the bigger gifts:
• $300,000 from the estate of Paula Jewell, a Dudley High School graduate. The money will establish the Paul, Lucille and Paula Jewell Endowed Scholarship Fund. That scholarship will provide financial assistance to exceptional students from any academic major. The U.S. Department of Education will match that gift through a federal program.
• $500,000 from the Weaver Foundation. Half will go toward the Henry Frye Endowed Professorship in Political Science. Matching state and federal funds will bring that donation to $1 million. The Weaver Foundation's remaining $250,000 will support A&T's honors program.
• $150,000 to the university to create an endowed professorship in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication. A matching federal grant will add another $150,000.
• $25,000 each from television station WFMY and Lillie M. Robbins, a 1966 A&T honors graduate. The station's gift will create the Shirley T. Frye Endowed Scholarship for students in the school's journalism and mass communication department. Robbins' gift will support students from Pitt County, where Robbins was raised, or from Atlanta, where she now lives.
10-8-04
By Robert Bell Staff Writer
News & Record
A North Carolina woman who attended N.C. A&T but never graduated has pledged $10 million to the university, by far the single largest donation in the school's 113-year history.
Howroyd
Janice Bryant Howroyd founded ACT 1 Group, the largest female-owned, minority-owned staffing agency in the nation. Two years ago, school officials asked Howroyd to lead the public phase of A&T's ambitious $100 million capital campaign. Last year, Howroyd decided to donate more than her time, arranging for the school to be the beneficiary to a $10 million life insurance policy -- a so-called "planned donation" in the parlance of academic giving.
"To say this is historic for our university is a huge understatement,'' Chancellor James Renick said Thursday. "This gift, like all the others we receive, will help the next generation of students and the generation after them."
Howroyd, 51, is expected to be at A&T this morning when the gift is formally announced. She was flying from California and could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
The gift is the second-largest of its kind among the nation's so-called historically black colleges and universities, according to Renick. It is believed to be the largest donation to any Guilford County university or college.
Renick said the donation is earmarked for the school's ongoing capital campaign fund and can be spent any way the chancellor deems fit.
The campaign has raised $67 million.
Before Thursday's announcement, A&T's single largest donation had been slightly more than $3 million by automaker Ford.
Renick said he was shocked when Howroyd approached him last year with the offer. "But that shock quickly gave way to jubilation and then to pride that there are other people out there who are so deeply committed to education," he said.
A&T's gift is all the more remarkable given the struggle school fund-raisers are up against amidst a dreary economy. Donors are making fewer long-term commitments and scaling back the size of their gifts, college officials say.
Planned giving, in which a person defers their assets at a later date, is critical at a time when many donors are inclined to put off their philanthropy.
Two years ago Guilford College surpassed its $50-million campaign goal, in part because of a strong program of planned giving.
Howroyd briefly attended A&T in the early 1970s before leaving the school. In 1978, she moved to Los Angeles to live with her sister, one of seven siblings who graduated from A&T.
Shortly after arriving in California, she decided to open an employment agency of her own. With a $1,500 family loan, she leased a small office.
Today her company grosses more than $500 million in annual revenue.
In 2002, Howroyd returned to A&T and received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree.
A&T also announced Thursday the school had raised another $2.4 million through individual and business contributions. Among the bigger gifts:
• $300,000 from the estate of Paula Jewell, a Dudley High School graduate. The money will establish the Paul, Lucille and Paula Jewell Endowed Scholarship Fund. That scholarship will provide financial assistance to exceptional students from any academic major. The U.S. Department of Education will match that gift through a federal program.
• $500,000 from the Weaver Foundation. Half will go toward the Henry Frye Endowed Professorship in Political Science. Matching state and federal funds will bring that donation to $1 million. The Weaver Foundation's remaining $250,000 will support A&T's honors program.
• $150,000 to the university to create an endowed professorship in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication. A matching federal grant will add another $150,000.
• $25,000 each from television station WFMY and Lillie M. Robbins, a 1966 A&T honors graduate. The station's gift will create the Shirley T. Frye Endowed Scholarship for students in the school's journalism and mass communication department. Robbins' gift will support students from Pitt County, where Robbins was raised, or from Atlanta, where she now lives.
