Arthur Blank Foundation Pledges $50m to Four Atlanta HBCUs

Atlanta Falcons owner and Home Depot co-founder Arthur M. Blank has committed $50 million over ten years to help students at four Atlanta HBCUs,Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morris Brown College, and Spelman College, cross the finish line to graduation.

The gifts, administered by the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, will fund “gap scholarships” for students in good academic standing who risk stopping out because they’ve exhausted other aid. The programme is expected to begin in 2026 and support nearly 10,000 students.

Foundation president Fay Twersky called the grants “an investment in hope,” framing the initiative as a practical way to raise completion rates at the Atlanta University Center institutions and a model for other philanthropies.

Leaders of the recipient schools described the commitment as transformative. Morehouse College president F. DuBois Bowman said the scholarships would ensure that “talent and hard work—not financial hardship—determine students’ futures.” Clark Atlanta University hailed the gift’s potential to keep students enrolled and graduating on time.

The $50m pledge is the foundation’s largest single investment in Georgia HBCUs, adding to earlier gifts, including $10m to Spelman for an innovation lab and $6m to several HBCUs for athletic facility upgrades.

The announcement lands amid volatile federal funding moves affecting minority-serving institutions. In September, the U.S. Department of Education said it would redirect nearly $500m toward HBCUs and tribally controlled colleges as a one-time investment—funds largely reallocated from other programmes, drawing scrutiny and debate.

Beyond campus borders, the foundation and schools point to the broader economic return: Atlanta’s HBCUs generate roughly $1 billion in annual economic impact, and HBCUs are national leaders in boosting social mobility for students from lower-income households.

What the money does: Gap scholarships typically cover the last, stubborn few thousand dollars that prevent otherwise eligible seniors from registering or graduating—costs that often spike after grants and loans are tapped out.

By targeting that choke point, the Blank Foundation aims to keep students enrolled, lift completion rates, and strengthen alumni pipelines across Atlanta’s Black colleges.