At Monday's UNITE: Together We Lead conference in Atlanta, two visionary leaders sat down to discuss a revolutionary approach to building wealth at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)—one that starts in the classroom and ends with transformational giving.
UNCF President Dr. Michael Lomax moderates a fireside chat with Spelman College Interim President Rosalind Brewer and Phil Gross, co-founder of Adage Capital Management.
"Spelman is a strongly Pell eligible student base, and we are at least 60% Pell eligible," Brewer told the audience of HBCU leaders. "We know that for every student that comes to our institution, they will graduate probably with at least $30,000 in student loans. So our student is not the affluent that most people think."
This reality check challenges common perceptions about one of the nation's most prestigious HBCUs. Despite Spelman's stellar reputation and significant endowment, Brewer emphasized that they are "healthy but not wealthy"—a distinction that shapes every strategic decision the college makes.
The financial discipline that characterizes Spelman's approach to its endowment—maintaining a strict draw rate between 4.7% and 5.2%—has evolved from necessity. Twenty years ago, the college transitioned from mutual funds to private equity investments, a move that demonstrated institutional maturity to potential donors who increasingly asked tough questions about return on investment.
For Gross, the motivation behind Project ACCLAIM stems from personal experience with transformative mentorship. Growing up with an alcoholic father and no family guidance, he credits a series of educators—from a sixth-grade gym teacher to a University of Wisconsin professor—with changing his life trajectory.
"When you go from making $16,000 a year at LaSalle National Bank to making more money than my dad ever made as a teacher one year later, and you give credit to that success to the school that brought you there, you have to give back," Gross reflected.
His story illustrates a crucial insight about philanthropy: gratitude-driven giving often produces the most sustained and significant support. Unlike medical school graduates who might attribute their success primarily to their own academic excellence, students who experience dramatic career transformation through institutional programs develop deeper loyalty to their alma maters.
Project ACCLAIM draws inspiration from the University of Wisconsin's 50-year-old student investment program, which has produced remarkable results in alumni giving. More than half of Wisconsin's top 10 donors—individuals who contribute tens of millions of dollars—graduated from this investment management program.
"That's half a century of running a program at the University of Wisconsin with roughly 12 graduates a year," Gross noted. "You have such a tithing to the university, having graduated from this program and giving credit to that program for your success."
Now, HBCUs including Spelman, Morehouse, Clark Atlanta University, and Howard are implementing similar programs through Project ACCLAIM, with each participating institution receiving a $4 million endowment to support both faculty positions and student-managed investment portfolios.
The initiative addresses a critical diversity challenge in the investment management industry. While HBCU graduates become doctors, professors, and pursue graduate education at high rates, few enter investment careers—despite their potential to excel in the field.
"When you meet people that are allowed to become doctors, a lot of them are professors. A lot of them went to grad school, they graduated from HBCUs. Very few of them end up in the investments business," Gross observed. "I thought it's a great way to expand our talent base, diversify our industry."
For Spelman, Project ACCLAIM addresses growing student demand for financial education across all majors.
"Every student that comes in the door of Spelman wants to know more about finance and investing—every student," Brewer said. "It's not just our STEM students."
Project ACCLAIM goes beyond classroom instruction to create comprehensive support systems. The program includes co-curricular academic activities, internships, mentorships, and job placement opportunities. Students compete for positions managing actual investment portfolios, with the expectation that they'll generate returns to help fund the program.
"This is one more chance for our Black and brown students to feel like somebody is engaging and investing in them," Brewer said. "Students want to know who cares about me being successful."
The rigorous, competitive nature of the program mirrors real-world investment management while providing the scaffolding necessary for student success. Participants must demonstrate excellence in both curricular and co-curricular activities to earn the opportunity to manage institutional funds.
For HBCU leaders seeking similar partnerships, Gross offered insight into philanthropic decision-making.
"We're always looking for things that are incremental that aren't just sort of in the flow," he said. "We're really trying to support high quality, really scalable, high quality interventions that are going to change lives, change society."
The partnership model requires institutional commitment beyond simply receiving funding. Schools must demonstrate how philanthropic dollars create multiplicative impact—what Gross calls making "your dollar go a little further."
Brewer's transition from engaged alumna to trustee taught her that effective governance requires constant focus on student benefit.
"Every decision that the board makes centers on the student," she said. "We always ask ourselves, is this how or is this going to benefit the student? And if not, it is likely not to happen."
Project ACCLAIM represents more than financial education—it's cultivating philanthropic mindset development within the Black community, where such traditions remain underdeveloped compared to other communities. By creating successful alumni who attribute their prosperity to their HBCU experience, the program aims to generate sustained institutional support.
"When you do have high concentration of your alums investing back in the college, that brings everybody else along," said Brewer.
While HBCUs face continued challenges in building endowments and supporting increasingly diverse student populations, initiatives like Project ACCLAIM offer a template for creating mutually beneficial partnerships that develop talent, diversify industries, and ultimately strengthen institutional capacity through alumni engagement.
HBCU experts add that the program's success will ultimately be measured not just in portfolio returns or job placements, but in the cultivation of a new generation of Black professionals who view philanthropy as essential to community advancement—and who have both the means and motivation to give back transformationally.
