MEMO

To:

Dr. Gwendolyn Freed, Instructor Fundraising in Higher Education

From: Dennis Coy Denman, M.Ed Candidate, Leadership in Higher Education

Date: May 3, 2015
Re:

Fundraising Plan: UW Black Graduation

Introduction. In addition to the University of Washingtons (UW) large commencement

ceremonies for graduating students, the university hosts several community and cultural
graduation celebrations each spring. These events honor students cultural identities, personal
heritages and successful degree completion at the UW. The various celebrations include Filipino
Grad (students who identify as Filipino American), Pasifik Grad (students who identify as
Pacific Islander), Lavender Grad (students who identify as LGBTQ), Ravens Feast (students
who identify with as Native American), La Raza Grad (students who identify as
Chicano/Latino), Black Grad (students who identify as African American) and Multi-Grad (a
new celebration for students who identify as biracial, multiracial, multi-ethnic, multi-identity
students). While the UW allows for students to celebrate their achievements in ways that connect
with their culture, community and family all in attendance, the challenge is that the UW does not
fund these cultural graduations. This fundraising plan will give insight to how one graduation is
planned and fundraises to meet its goals and present what strategic fundraising will begin to look
like in near future.

Background. The Black Graduation (informally called Black Grad), was started in 1997,
by a group of students at the UW decided to host a post-commencement graduation ceremony in

order to create a more intimate and personal graduation experience. With support from the Office
of Minority Affairs & Diversity, the students hosted the first Black Graduation on June 10, 1997,
at Grace Apostolic Church in Columbia City. The ceremony gave students the opportunity to
recognize significant people who had helped them reach their goal including faculty, staff,
friends, community members, and family. The event was deemed a success and has become an
annual tradition. Eighteen years later the tradition continues. This inclusive ceremony is open to
all graduating students, and is representative of African and African American culture and
culminates with a Kente Ceremony. The colorful, striped Kente stole is native to Ghana and is
used for special occasions, reflecting history, philosophy, ethics, oral literature, religious beliefs,
social values, and political thought. This stole is given to every graduate as a gift and to
commemorate the event. The event draws about 150 African American graduates and their
families and ever year the event reaches maximum capacity at 1200 people for the University
Presbyterian Church Sanctuary.
Strength in Numbers. The Black Graduation Planning Committee is composed of
student, staff and faculty volunteers who begin planning for the graduation as early as October.
The committee has grown over the last few years as responsibilities and demands have increased
for planning the graduation. The committee is one of the only committees for black faculty and
staff to get involved with planning a student event, so its generally a sought after committee and
is a great professional development and networking group to be apart of. Financially, the Black
Grad is supported by two main funding sources: The Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity
contributes $1,500 and the Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center contributes $500 for a guaranteed
starting budget of $2,000. While the committee welcomes and acknowledges these two funding
sources and couldnt survive without them, $2,000 is just not enough. The $2,000 pays for the

church facilities rental (anywhere from $200-$400) and the remainder of the money goes toward
the purchasing of the Ghanaian Kente Stole (generally they are $25/stole but since we usually
buy them in a bulk, we get them for $15/stole for 200 stoles). There is a huge savings when you
buy them in bulk, but still those kente stoles costs up to $3,000. This already exceeds the budget
and these are two of the most necessary expenses. Other black graduation day expenses include:
Photographers, Music/Drummers, Decorations, and Printing. Theres not enough funding to pay
a keynote or food for graduates, let alone their families.
Weaknesses. The Black Graduation Planning Committee solicits donations from local
community organizations, colleges, and departments. It just started fundraising a little more
aggressively this last 2013-14 school year, as we saw an increase in graduates participating from
100 to 150, including graduates from the UW Bothell and UW Tacoma campuses. The
committee is excited to see more black graduates participating and ultimately graduating from
the UW. But if more and more students continue to graduate at this rate, we will need more
funding for more Kente Stoles and additional funding for an even larger space. We have seen
significant contributions because of the fundraising campaigns but we have to be more creative,
ask for even more money, and start thinking outside the box. Again the committee is made up of
volunteers and outside of the one person from Advancement on the committee, no one else has
real experience in fundraising. Did I forget to mention, the committee is not anyones full-time
responsibility? The committee is committed to honoring the tradition of giving stoles to students
as gifts and will never make students pay for the Kente stoles themselves.
Opportunities. In order to create a mores sustainable model for black graduation more
effective and efficient models of fundraising must come in play for the next Black Grad 2016
and years afterwards. In the African/African American culture, there is a meaning/symbol of the

Sankofa Bird which means reach back and get it. This has been a loose theme for Black grad
for years. We have never tied the theme to fundraising and philanthropy until now:

Recent Alumni Support. The planning committee could do a better job of tracking
students who previously participated in Black Grad and as recent alumni, make an appeal to
these up and coming donors to support current and future black graduations. If these graduates
committed $15-$25 toward next years black graduation, the kente stoles would pay for
themselves. This essentially is a great pay it forward campaign that holds graduates accountable
but also develops a culture of giving back so future students dont have too. The committee has
access to students who participant. There would have to be significant follow-up to get up-todate contact information and someone to manage a database.
Faculty/Staff Payroll Deduction. Working with a UW advancement officer has been a
blessing because we have learned a little more about how the UW foundation operates as well as
the rules on fundraising for university causes/programs such as the Black Graduation. The
committee has to the opportunities to setup a Payroll deduction program for any faculty or staff
member to begin contributing to the Black Graduation. Faculty and Staff members are always
looking to get involved in the Black Graduation planning but cant always make it to meetings or
even the event itself. In lieu of time and energy we would gladly accept any liberal donation
from ones pay check. Just $5 dollars, from every paycheck (thats the 10th and the 25th at UW)
for 12 months is $120. We have over 200 black faculty and staff members (according to the
association listserv). The larger implication with this is payroll deduction were to become a
thing, the staff association would have to be more active and engage the donors (colleagues we
work with) who are giving their money.

Pass the Plate Donations. For those audience members, family, and friends in
attendance on the Day of the Black Graduation, the committee does not have the opportunity to
get in front of a thousand plus people and ask for money, but this seems like a great opportunity
to raise donations and take an offering at the event. Most participants would be familiar with
giving an offering in this way if they have ties to the African American Church. By making an
appeal to those in the audience, being transparent with participants that the graduation doesnt
necessarily fund itself and that they can be contributing to next years graduation is the perfect set
up to Pass the plate church offering style! Sure it takes up time away from the graduation, but
even if 1200 people put jut $1 in the offering plate, thats $1200 to help finance the black
graduation.
Developing A Culture of Diverse Philanthropy. Up until now most of the opportunities
targeted different audiences and potential donors. For the Black Graduation to truly be
sustainable and effective in its fundraising efforts, it has to develop a culture around philanthropy
amongst diverse populations. A report on Fostering a Culture of Diverse Philanthropy says
But if you look at the top givers in the United States, they are predominantly in the same
demographic (white and male), and many people I hear from say that even in their local
communities, its always the usual suspects who are giving and participating (Auerbach, 2014).
Somewhere along the Black Graduation process, we must stop to really engage with our students
on the value and importance of philanthropy and it doesnt have to always be about money (atfirst). There are several factors in why minorities may not give as often or as much, especially
current students who are already paying tuition. A lesson learned from one report on Diversity,
Inclusion, and Effective Philanthropy says simply, Dont lead with money (Rockefeller
Philanthropy Advisors). As a committee it is our responsibility to engage students, faculty and

staff in giving the time, talents and treasure to not only the Black Graduation but making
investments into the communities they belong to, here at UW or somewhere else. This can apply
to all the cultural graduations and even offering donor education workshops from the UW
Alumni Association Multicultural Alumni Partnerships.
Threats. Certainly, while there are great opportunities for growth and expansion for the
Black Graduation Fundraising, there are threats and limitations to consider in developing a
fundraising plan.
UW already does a lot of fundraising. Its challenging to approach big companies or
organizations, especially in the local greater Seattle area, because many of them already give to
the UW. Donors dont necessarily understand the different programs or entities that raise money
at the university. Donors just know its the UW. In the shadow of the billion dollar campaign it is
important to develop and engage new donors in the community and abroad. The Black
Graduation committee also competes with the Black Student Union who also does an annual
fundraiser and solicit donations during spring. Its hard to distinguish even between the Black
Student Union and Black Graduation. Donors just understand they gave something that
contributes to Black Students.
Legal Issues with fundraising for a race based groups. While on the issues of Black
Students and fundraising, the committee must go through a lot of red tape in order to fundraise
more broadly and aggressively. Because of provision set in Washington bill I-200, banning
affirmative action, which limits any race-based recruitment, admissions, and even fundraising
practices in the state of Washington, especially tied to higher education. This means as the Black
Graduation continues to grow in the number of students participants and the amount of financial
support received, setting up budgets & accounts with the UW Foundation, just even under the

name Black Grad causes a lot of red flags to go off. Eventually, the name of the ceremony will
have to be changed for future fundraising purposes. Additionally, the planning committee will
probably be subjected to more donor requests and requirements as we continue to develop and
grow. The committee would like to hold on to the values, traditions, and identity of the Black
Graduation as long as we can. Well always need financial support until the day the UW decides
to just pay for Black Graduation itself.
Conclusion: Final Case & Vision .The committee looks forward to Black Graduation
every year. Its a celebratory time and families are involved in the Kente Stole presentation,
which is a highlight of the event. It warms your heart when you see students who you might have
advised or seen around campus, walk across stage and enjoy their five seconds of fame and
achievement. Its always great to see students who have struggled make it to graduation because it
may not have been an easy road get there. Whatever the case, these students deserve a graduation
such as this to be recognized for their hard work and achievements. Its really through the
financial contributions of others that really make the event go one and makes it special. As
mentioned earlier, $2,000 is not enough for a graduation this big. While a case can be made to try
and increase the Black Graduation budget, then all cultural graduation budgets would have to
increase. And even though the Black Graduation is the largest graduation among all of the
cultural graduations, we all have to be treated equally. The Black Grad committee will continue
to solicit donations from on-campus entities, but do a better job of engaging, thanking and rethanking these donors for their continued support, while looking for new donors and develop this
culture of diverse philanthropy. As for Black Grad 2016, the graduation is planned to take place
on-campus and Kane Hall costs $1,000. While the move on-campus makes things more
convenient for students and families, the event just got a whole lot more expensive.

References
Auerbach, A, Fostering a Culture of Diverse Philanthropy Stanford Social and Innovation
Review December 31, 2014
http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/fostering_a_culture_of_diverse_philanthropy
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Diversity, Inclusion and Effective Philanthropy
https://rockpa.org/document.doc?id=207
Black Graduation 2015 Website:
http://www.washington.edu/omad/black-graduation-ceremony/