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For more than 80 years, UNCF has served as a beacon for those ready to invest in—and act on—the belief that no mind should be wasted nor any dream deferred.
UNCF’s Institute for Capacity Building
partners with HBCUs, their supporters and champions to advance the idea that  higher education should be available to all who strive for it.
Higher education is one of the surest paths to progress and achieving the American dream, offering a remarkable return-on-investment for families and communities across the country.
Our role is to support those institutions who invest in the success of every student and uplifting all communities.
Power to Promise: Advancing Wealth Building at HBCUs
HBCUs are among the most powerful engines of economic mobility in the nation. But mobility alone is not enough. Power to Promise shifts the focus—from…
UNCF Announces Winners of the Sixth Annual HBCU Stock Pitch Competition
Boston, MA  — April 13, 2026,  UNCF today announced the winners of the 2026 HBCU Stock Pitch Competition, a national competition that challenges student teams…
UNCF’s Institute for Capacity Building Launching the HBCU Future Leaders Institute
A select group of HBCU students will convene during UNITE 2026 Summit to accelerate their ability to support the transformation of their respective campuses ATLANTA,…
HBCU GO and UNCF Announce Groundbreaking Strategic Partnership with Launch of Video Content Series “HBCUVoices: Executive Leaders Unfiltered”
In a powerful alignment of media, mission and movement, the Allen Media Group free-streaming digital platform and premier destination for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) sports…
UNCF Expands Strategic Partnerships to Strengthen HBCU Leadership Stability and Executive Preparedness
ATLANTA, GA (March 11, 2026) — Today UNCF’s Institute for Capacity Building (ICB) announced a new partnership with the Higher Education Leadership Foundation (HELF) at Wiley University in Marshall, TX, and the HBCU Executive Leadership…
Project ACCLAIM in Boston: Advancing Structured Pathways into Asset Management
Project ACCLAIM’s recent visit to Boston, coordinated by UNCF’s Institute for Capacity Building (ICB), reflected a deliberate, multi-campus effort to strengthen durable pathways into asset…
UNCF Expands Project ACCLAIM, Welcoming Morgan State and Florida A&M Universities
UNCF is proud to announce the expansion of Project ACCLAIM (Accelerating Learning in Asset Investment Management) to include Morgan State University and Florida A&M University.…
Stable Leadership: The Foundation of HBCU Success
Stable Leadership: The Foundation of HBCU Success explores one of the most urgent and underexamined challenges facing Historically Black Colleges and Universities today: presidential turnover.…
UNITE 2026 Registration Now Open: Dr. Harold L. Martin Sr. Announced as Commencement Speaker, Complimentary Tickets for Every HBCU
ATLANTA, GA (Jan. 12, 2026)—Today, UNCF announced the official launch of registration for UNITE 2026, its flagship national convening focused on advancing leadership, innovation and long-term capacity across historically…
Phill Gross of Adage Capital Management Inspires Project ACCLAIM Students at Howard University
Last week, Phill Gross, Co-Founder of Adage Capital Management, visited Howard University’s School of Business as a guest lecturer for students participating in Project ACCLAIM…
Capturing UNITE 2025 Through Live Illustration
At UNITE 2025, storytelling took on a new form. Throughout the summit, graphic notetaker and context artist Brandon Black brought the experience to life in…
From Promise to Prosperity: Investing in HBCU Excellence
UNCF hosted From Promise to Prosperity at The Boston Foundation, bringing together leaders to discuss the urgent need for sustained investment in Historically Black Colleges…
INSTITUTIONAL NETWORK
HBCUs are economic engines for self-sustaining futures, making it possible for everyone to live the American Dream.
Dr. Michael L. Lomax
President & CEO
UNCF
Funders & Partners
ICB Structure
Strategy Development
Transformation Support
Executive Leadership
Financial Sustainability
Digital Solutions
Knowledge Management
Vision, Narrative, Champion
Strategy Development
Works with internal and external stakeholders to develop an understanding and appreciation of ICB’s mission, vision and strategic priorities.
Supports the dissemination of findings from ICB programs, partnerships and communities of practice.
Pursues strategies and innovations advancing the transformation of HBCUs.
Institutional Engagement, Planning, Delivery
Transformation Support
Provides comprehensive protrusive (proactive + intrusive) institutional engagement.
Uses the ACT Framework, our emotional intelligence approach, to operate with authenticity, compassion and transparency, while expecting the same from all stakeholders.
Executes continuous improvement through the AEIOU Framework: Articulate the problem. Equip the resolution owner. Improve the process. Observe the solution. Universalize the solve.
Leadership, Governance, Accreditation
Executive Leadership
Supports presidents/chancellors and their governing boards to advance institutional missions.
Engages institutional leaders in a joint process of development, reflection, assessment and improvement.
Advances the belief that transformational change in higher education institutions is only possible when executive leaders are aligned, informed and interconnected to other institutional leaders engaged in the pursuit of similar missions and goals.
Resources, Business Models, Financial Systems
Financial Sustainability
Aligns financial planning and strategy to institutional and student success priorities.
Identifies and develops KPIs to evaluate the institution’s financial health and support accreditation.
Promotes thought leadership, professional development and sharing through a community of practice for CFOs and other fiscal officers.
Innovation, Technology, Virtual Learning
Digital Solutions
Advises the development of
HBCUv
, a shared online learning platform for community learning where students, educators and staff are enabled to learn, develop and flourish together, from anywhere.
Develops tailored and culturally relevant opportunities to equip, sustain and promote technology adoption.
Ensures institutions are positioned to leverage and shape the future of digital learning and innovation.
Data, Information, Continuous Improvement
Knowledge Management
Strengthens capabilities and decision-making capacities of institutions through the development and sharing of actionable data and information.
Improves data literacy and systems among institutions to promote proficiency and data-informed cultures.
Amplifies knowledge and information that uplift the legacy, impact and potential of HBCUs.
HBCUv:
Shaping the online future – by HBCUs, for HBCUs
UNCF is designing an online platform for lifelong learners to flourish together and celebrate the power of an HBCU education—from anywhere.
WE ASPIRE TO SERVE OUR NATION’S HBCUs AND MISSION-ALIGNED COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES.
Through our shared learning practices, we strive to build an ecosystem of partners to advance higher education for all.
Our Network
IF NOT FOR
HBCUs…
One small step could have been too big a leap.
When Apollo 11 touched down in the Sea of Tranquility that July night in 1969, it was made possible by the invaluable calculations of NASA mathematicians Dorothy Vaughan (Wilberforce University) and Katherine Johnson (West Virginia State University).
With your support, this legacy of shaping the future will continue.
DONATE TODAY
IF NOT FOR
HBCUs..
The Civil Rights Movement wouldn’t have gone as far.
Many of the champions of the 1950s and 60s movement were HBCU graduates, including: Kwame Ture (Howard University), Medgar Evers (Alcorn State), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Morehouse College) and Rosa Parks (Alabama State).
With your support, this legacy of shaping the future will continue.
DONATE TODAY
IF NOT FOR
HBCUs…
Head Start would have been a non-starter.
Spelman College graduate Marian Wright Edelman founded the Children’s Defense Fund, which fights for significant policies like the national Head Start program that has helped lift generations of kids out of poverty.
With your support, this legacy of shaping the future will continue.
DONATE TODAY
IF NOT FOR
HBCUs…
There would be no rising Black middle class.
Within 10 years of graduation, HBCU diploma-holders typically earn more than $71,000 a year, earning $1 million more over their lifetimes than peers who did not go to college. HBCU students who are the first in their families to graduate from college will not be the last, transforming entire communities.
With your support, this legacy of shaping the future will continue.
DONATE TODAY
How many of the 102 HBCUs
can you name?
VIEW LIST