Florida A&M Receives Record $237 Million Gift During Commencement

Florida A&M University has received a $237.75 million gift from the Issac Batterson 7th Family Trust and Gregory Gerami, the founder and CEO of Batterson Farms Corp, a Texas-based industrial hemp business.

The gift, the largest in Florida A&M’s 136-year history, was presented to FAMU President Larry Robinson at one of the university’s commencement ceremonies on May 4. You can watch the moment the gift was made here.

FAMU said it will use the gift to support various academic initiatives, student success programs and its athletics program. It is almost double the size of the university’s current endowment of $121 million.

With an enrollment of about 10,000 students, Florida A&M, located in Tallahassee, Florida, is one of the nation’s leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The new gift would appear to also be the largest donation ever made to an HBCU, eclipsing the prior record established in January when Spelman College announced receiving a $100 million gift.

“This gift is breathtaking in its generosity and its scope,” said Robinson in a news release. “It changes the narrative about what is possible for FAMU. I cannot thank Gregory Gerami and the Issac Batterson 7th Family Trust enough. Their names are now etched into the annals of Florida A&M University in perpetuity.”

According to the university, Gerami reached out to FAMU officials last fall to discuss the possibility of making a sizable donation. Gerami believed that FAMU’s mission and research capabilities, especially in the area of hemp production, were strongly aligned with his own company’s emphasis and direction.

“FAMU has become like a family to our Trust, our company and to me. Our morals and our mission are in line with FAMU and FAMU’s mission,” said Gerami, in the press release. He emphasized his commitment to the university’s sustainability and growth. “It’s also about making sure that we set FAMU on the path to being the top HBCU in this country.”

Gregory Gerami achieved his business success despite a childhood of adversity, including being born with opiate addiction. After starting a small lawn care business, he eventually branched out and founded the Batterson Farms Corp, a hydroponic farming and hemp plastic company, in 2021.

In recognition of Gerami’s history of physical and health challenges, which are detailed in a biography on the Batterson Farms website, Florida A&M will use a portion of his gift to enhance its Center for Disability Access and Resources, which serves about 700 students. Center director Deborah Sullivan said the donation would increase the center’s ability to offer more programs and services on campus.

“The impact is just tremendous because we are not a department that often gets gifts like this. Alumni tend to give to their school or to athletics, but the Office of Disability Services doesn’t necessarily get recognized with monetary gifts like this and, especially, this magnitude,” said Sullivan.

As expected, some individuals in the public are and will continue researching Mr. Gerami. Please know that FAMU has done its due diligence when it comes to this matter. Additionally, Mr. Gerami has and continues to do his own due diligence on things that have been and are happening at FAMU.

While a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) we signed prevents us from disclosing many details, as was reported on May 4 – Mr. Gerami transferred $237,750,000 worth of stocks into our account last month. Mr. Gerami’s $237,750,000 stock transfer was received in the same manner in which we have accepted all other stocks donated to the University through the FAMU Foundation Inc. As with any non-cash gift received, such as cryptocurrency, real estate, and stocks, it will be converted to cash and recorded appropriately.

Gerami is quoted in the May 7 Tallahassee Democrat as saying, “The stocks have been held by the university for over a month now, so I don’t know where the confusion or the skepticism would be since it’s already in a financial account with the university.”

But the doubts still linger even within the FAMU community. On May 7, in a highly unusual move, Deveron Gibbons, the vice chair of FAMU’s Board of Trustees, called for a public “emergency meeting” of the board so it could give more scrutiny to the gift, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. “A donation of this nature requires the highest degree of transparency and inquiry, and to this point that has not occurred,” Gibbons is reported to have said in a statement.

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