[mpoverlay]HBCUs are broke. Students know it, alumni know it, corporations know it and the government knows it. The only time institutions invest money is when they stand to make money – usually around homecoming and select athletic events.

People have made a great deal of money from HBCUs looking to resolve issues with fundraising, alumni giving and community engagement, all to figure out how black colleges can turn tradition and a cultural mission into sustainable income. The question has always been, “how can we convince people to give us more money?” With tough economic times and the nation creeping dangerous close to the fallacy of ‘post-racial society,’ the answers are harder to find now more than in any other period.

Lean periods of giving and alumni engagement can be turned around in a very short period, with a very simple adjustment in the halls of the HBCU academe. Until now, HBCUs have prepared their students to be leaders in a range of industries.

But they haven’t yet taught, with consistency, to own these industries.

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[mpoverlay]Historically black colleges and universities are the largest, most resourced, most visible examples of black people helping other black people.

This singular concept is the core of HBCU value, relevance, value proposition or any other buzz word for why these schools should continue to exist. In an American pop culture which sells a profitable image of black people as intellectually inferior, innately violent and sexualized, and opportunistically exploitive, the HBCU completely rips these ideas to shreds on a daily basis.

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