Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other minority serving institutions (MSIs) hold a unique place in American higher education. Historically, and even today, HBCUs have been funded by White philanthropists, but these institutions have also been sites of community philanthropy for racial uplift. Our research has not only explores HBCUs and other MSIs as sites to understand philanthropic giving and identity-based motivations, we also look at these institutions as sites that have created and developed cultures of giving.