Spelman College, the women’s school in Atlanta, announced Thursday that it has received a $100 million donation, which its officials called the largest gift ever to a historically black college.
The gift comes from Ronda E. Stryker, trustee of Spelman, and her husband, William D. Johnston, chairman of the Greenleaf Trust wealth management company. Ms. Stryker serves as a director of Stryker Corporation, a medical device company founded by her grandfather.
In a statement, Spelman College said $75 million of the gift was earmarked for scholarships and that the rest of the money would go toward improving student housing and developing an academic focus on public policy and democracy.
In a statement, Spelman President Helene Gayle said the college was “strengthened and inspired” by the couple’s generosity, adding, “This gift is a critical step in our school’s mission to eliminate financial barriers to commencement and completion of Spelman education’.
Billionaires known for their education philanthropy, Ms. Stryker and her husband previously donated $30 million to the college.
Along with her husband, Ms. Stryker, a former special education teacher in Kalamazoo, Mich., also endowed a medical school at Western Michigan University, a school the couple attended, and made a major gift to Harvard. Ms. Stryker has served as a trustee of Spelman College since 1997.
Ms. Stryker could not be reached for comment. But in a statement, she said: “It’s important to me that all women are given the opportunity to explore their talents, challenge their self-doubt and realize the power of achieving individual success.”
Spelman is one of only two women’s historically black colleges and universities.
Philanthropists have increasingly focused on HBCUs and other black nonprofits since the 2020 killing of George Floyd, which sparked a national reckoning on race.
Last week, the United Negro College Fund announced it had received a $100 million grant from the Lilly Endowment that will be used to fund 37 black colleges, including Spelman and its men’s school, Morehouse College.
The two colleges were also among those who had received major gifts from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, who has donated more than $500 million to HBCUs in recent years. In 2020, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, also donated $120 million to Spelman, Morehouse and the United Negro College Fund.
Spelman and Morehouse are among the best-known and most prestigious of America’s roughly 100 historically black colleges, a designation that means the schools were established to educate black students before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when many colleges and universities banned leave.
