For more than seven decades, this principle has remained at the heart of UNCF, enabling us to raise more than $4.7 billion and help more than 445,000 students and counting not just attend college, but thrive, graduate and become leaders. They do this in three ways: By awarding more than 10,000 students scholarships, worth more than $100 million, each year. By providing financial support to 37 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). And by serving as the nation's leading advocate for the importance of minority education and community engagement. This three-pronged approach is powerful: Since their founding in 1944, they've helped to more than double the number of minorities attending college. The six-year graduation rate for UNCF African American scholarship recipients is 70 percent. This is 11 percentage points higher than the national average and 31 percentage points higher than the national average for all African Americans.