The America's Black Collegians program was originally launched in 1988 as the America's Black Colleges program. Our first effort began as an attempt to use a new source of funding, cause-related marketing, to provide scholarships for the 300,000 students at the over 115 Black colleges and universities. In 1998, the program was expanded to provide for the 1.5 million Black students that are pursuing their dream of a college education. The program was revised to recognize the fact that although Black colleges and universities have been and continue to be the foundation of much of the success of Black America, over 75% of Black college students attend other schools. In the scholarship award process we will make awards to students attending any college in America and make a special allocation to fund awards at Black colleges and universities.

Cause-related marketing is a pure exercise in economic empowerment. It allows consumers to buy top quality products and services and simultaneously financially support a worthy cause. For America's Black Collegians, the cause is Black Higher Education and the beneficiaries are chosen from among the 1.5 Million Black college students across the land. Supporting college scholarships through cause-related marketing is different and distinct from the traditional charitable giving by individuals and businesses. For years, the two leading charitable organizations, the United Negro College Fund and the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, have provided significant support to Black colleges and universities through the money people and businesses donate. America's Black Collegians has the same goals and mission as these two fine organizations but a different strategy. American's Black Collegians neither solicits nor accepts charitable donations. America's Black Collegians scholarships are completely funded by fees generated by consumer and commercial purchase of the products and services provided by our corporate marketing partners. For example, for each America's Black Colleges VISA card issued and for each purchase on the card, a fee is allocated to the scholarship fund. Our programs in business credit cards, communications, Internet sales, travel, insurance and long distance telephone service provide similar types of scholarship support.

Our strategy is to convert and leverage the $500 billion spent annually by Black Americans and other supporters of Black Higher Education. Working independently on parallel paths, charitable giving and cause-related marketing can maximize the available resources for scholarship support. Charitable giving leverages the money people donate and cause-related marketing converts the money spent. Taken together, these two approaches empower people and businesses to choose the colleges and students for financial support. Collectively, these two funding vehicles can maximize the amount of financial aid for deserving students. America's Black Collegians has assembled a group of America's leading companies to ensure program participants get the highest value for their spending dollars. The program allows people to get the best prices and values while doing the right thing.

We at America's Black Collegians believe that there is no more important investment in our future than our investment in our children. The youth of America today represent the leaders of tomorrow. We can serve no better goal than to ensure that no stone is left unturned to provide financial assistance to students willing to accept the challenge and determined to achieve the dream of a college education. America's Black Collegians and its corporate partners have built the framework to provide hundreds of millions of dollars of new financial support. We urge everybody to compare our prices for products and services with those currently being used. We're confident that upon comparison most people will find our programs offer better values, plus the advantage of helping some deserving students achieve their dreams of a college education.