Education Department, Corporate Sponsors Offer Financial Advice to HBCUs

The Education Department and two blue chip companies held the first of three annual seminars last month to advise presidents of historically Black colleges and universities on how to better manage their institution's finances.
JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management, Coca-Cola and the U.S. Education Department co-sponsored the Financial Management Institute, offering advice to 22 HBCU presidents. The conference focused on best practices in investment management, including strategic asset allocation and alternative investments, as well as financial management, strengthening infrastructure and charitable giving strategies.
"By consulting with financial service experts, foundation executives and other leaders in the field of higher learning, these presidents will leave with a better idea of how to improve their institution's financial stability and have a better understanding of the cutting edge strategies in today's marketplace," says Education Secretary Roderick Paige.
JP Morgan Fleming worked closely with the HBCU presidents to determine and address key financial management issues facing their institutions, including:
• The impact of market forces on the growth of an institution's endowment;
• Factors to consider in developing an effective spending policy;
• How to allocate endowment assets given the spending needs of an institution and changing market forces;
• Safeguards that should be put in place to ensure the effective management of the financial aid process;
• How an institution should position itself to take advantage of new forms of philanthropy;
• Identifying "hot funding" interests of traditional foundations;
• What institutions should do to take advantage of the transfers of wealth taking place through donor advisory funds;
• Creating an infrastructure and team with the skills and experience to create sound financial management; and
• How to turn idle assets into revenue producers.
JP Morgan Fleming will continue to work with HBCU presidents, the White House Initiative on HBCUs and Education Department officials to ensure that the institute develops program responses to these issues.
The White House Initiative on HBCUs works to strengthen historically Black colleges and universities' ability to provide excellence in education and successfully compete for federal grants, contracts or federally sponsored programs.