Jamie Dimon is widely known for his historic run as CEO of JPMorgan, the world's largest bank — a post he has held since 2005 — and for his pointed commentary on the economy, workplace culture, and geopolitics. Far less known is the philanthropy he pursues with his wife, Judith, through The James and Judith K. Dimon Foundation.

Established in 1996, the foundation does not even maintain its own website, yet according to ProPublica data, the private charitable organization donates millions of dollars each year to support education and economic mobility for young people. Its most recent 990-PF form — the annual tax and information document for private foundations — shows that in 2024 the organization paid out more than $9 million, mostly to groups focused on public schools and career advancement.

A $12 Million Gift Through UNCF

On Aug. 20, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) — founded in 1944 to support private historically Black colleges and long associated with its "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" campaign — announced that The James and Judith K. Dimon Foundation had donated $12 million to 12 historically Black colleges and universities. The gift establishes The Dimon Fund to Advance Economic Opportunity and forms part of UNCF's $1.5 billion capital campaign. It will provide permanent endowment capital to the selected schools, paired with a $5 million institutional match from UNCF's pooled endowment fund.

"Our system of HBCUs continue to serve as the springboard to success for thousands of students in pursuit of the American Dream," Jamie and Judith Dimon said in a joint statement. "As the children of first-generation high school and college graduates, we were imbued with a thirst for knowledge and a drive to succeed—principles that we have passed on to our own children and that we wish to share with all the students at the selected HBCUs."

The 12 HBCUs Receiving Funding

The selected institutions are:

• Benedict College (Columbia, S.C.)
• Dillard University (New Orleans)
• Edward Waters University (Jacksonville, Fla.)
• Huston-Tillotson University (Austin)
• Jarvis Christian University (Hawkins, Texas)
• Johnson C. Smith University (Charlotte)
• Miles College (Fairfield, Ala.)
• Oakwood University (Huntsville, Ala.)
• Shaw University (Raleigh, N.C.)
• Stillman College (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
• Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, Ala.)
• Voorhees University (Denmark, S.C.)

UNCF said the 12 schools were chosen for their leadership and their track records preparing teachers, nurses, and other healthcare professionals — high-demand fields where HBCUs punch above their weight for first-generation students. The sector's footprint is small — roughly 100 institutions nationwide — but HBCUs have long produced a disproportionate share of the nation's Black teachers, physicians, and graduates in the sciences.

Rather than backing a single program, the Dimons' donation flows into permanent endowments, an approach UNCF argues gives schools the freedom to plan for decades instead of scrambling to raise money year to year. That structure carries particular weight for these campuses: many HBCUs operate with endowments that are a fraction of the size of those at comparable predominantly white institutions, a long-documented gap that leaves them with far less permanent capital to draw on.

The strategy aligns with the Dimons' broader giving. Judy Dimon, the foundation's president, oversees grantmaking centered on career-connected learning for New York City public school students, and the foundation helped launch FutureReadyNYC, an initiative aiming to provide 100,000 students with hands-on career experience by 2030. Jamie Dimon also previously served on UNCF's board.

Billionaire Philanthropists Step In as Federal Support Wavers

The gift arrives as the Trump administration has pulled back funding for public institutions and HBCUs. Other billionaire philanthropists, notably MacKenzie Scott, have moved to fill that gap: she has given more than $700 million to more than a dozen HBCUs and affiliated organizations.

Federal support has grown shakier. During the 43-day government shutdown that began Oct. 1, 2025, the Department of Education stopped issuing new grants and furloughed roughly 95% of staff not working on federal student aid. That left programs such as the HBCU Capital Financing Program — which provides low-cost federal capital for construction, renovation, and refinancing projects at HBCUs — in limbo, even as the department announced in September a $495 million increase for HBCUs and tribally controlled colleges and universities for FY 2025, funded through a reallocation of existing federal education money.

Some higher education experts questioned the sincerity of that increase.

"If [the Trump administration] actually…cared about HBCUs and tribal colleges, then you would not see such a big attack on other sectors of higher education," Mike Hoa Nguyen, an associate professor of education at UCLA, told The American Prospect in October 2025.

The shutdown ended Nov. 12, but the reprieve appears temporary. Days after the government reopened, the department signed agreements transferring billions in grant programs to other federal agencies — a move widely seen as advancing the Trump administration's stated goal of dissolving the Education Department.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.