United Negro College Fund Gets $25-Million From Kochs
June 9, 2014 | Read Time: 1 minute
Billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have donated $25-million to the United Negro College Fund, primarily to support scholarships for African-American students, The Washington Post and the Associated Press write.
About three-quarters of the gift from Koch Industries Inc. and the Charles Koch Foundation will establish a new, merit-based scholarship program. The remainder will provide general support for historically black colleges and universities and for the fund, the nation’s largest minority education group.
The Koch brothers have come under attack from Democrats over their network of politically active nonprofits, which have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars from undisclosed donors to conservative and free-market causes. Organizations and institutions have drawn fire for accepting Koch gifts.
Michael Lomax, president and chief executive of the College Fund, said that if he has to “bear the brunt of someone else’s criticism to ensure that we have the resources to help those students, then I can handle it, and I can take the heat.”
