SOURCE OF WEALTH: Radio One
FUNDING AREAS: Education, Arts & Culture, TBD
OVERVIEW: Catherine Hughes and her son Alfred Liggins III do some of their grantmaking through the Catherine L. Hughes and Alfred C. Liggins III Foundation, through which they recently made a multimillion-dollar grant to Howard University. Liggins is also supportive of the arts and serves on such boards as the Apollo Theater Foundation.
BACKGROUND: Catherine L. Hughes began her radio career in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, at KOWH (AM). In 1980, Hughes purchased her first radio station, WOL-AM, in Washington, D.C., and founded media company Radio One. In 1999, Radio One went public and Hughes became the first African-American woman to chair a publicly held corporation. Hughes and her son Alfred have since grown Radio One into a multimedia giant. Liggins holds an MBA from Wharton and is CEO of Radio One.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION: Hughes and Liggins recently gave a multimillion-dollar gift to Howard University via the Catherine L. Hughes and Alfred C. Liggins III Foundation. This organization keeps a low profile and recent tax records are not available. The gift created the Cathy Hughes School of Communications. Hughes worked at Howard in the 1970s when she came to Washington, D.C.
Liggins has also been involved with the Boys & Girls Clubs. Hughes serves on the board of Piney Woods School in Mississippi, a black boarding school established by her grandfather.
ARTS & CULTURE: Liggins serves on the board of the Apollo Theater Foundation and has been involved with the National Association of Broadcasters. Hughes serves on the board of the Barnes Foundation. Hughes and Liggins also gave at least $1 million to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
OTHER: Liggins has supported Chordoma Foundation, which is concerned with a rare form of cancer.
LOOKING FORWARD: For now, it appears that Hughes and Liggins will continue their past patterns of philanthropy. Perhaps the Catherine L. Hughes and Alfred C. Liggins III Foundation will be more public in the coming years.
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