Culverhouse offers $250,000 matching gift to AHA

April 28, 2025 — The Alabama Humanities Alliance has received a record-setting matching gift opportunity from Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr., an Alabama native and noted attorney and philanthropist. The $250,000 donation is established as a matching gift opportunity, which will help AHA raise an additional $250,000 from other donors to “unlock” Culverhouse’s contribution.

“This is an invaluable gift in a moment of crisis for the humanities in Alabama,” says AHA Executive Director Chuck Holmes. “We are grateful to Hugh for his generosity, and for his recognition of how vital the humanities are to the cultural fabric of our state and to the economic vitality of the communities we call home.”

This gift is the largest individual donation in AHA’s half-century history. It comes at a critical juncture for Alabama Humanities. On April 2, the federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) terminated federal funding for all 56 state and territorial humanities councils, ending AHA’s 50-year partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities — and, with it, two-thirds of AHA’s funding.

As a result, AHA had to suspend its statewide grantmaking that Alabama nonprofits rely on for locally created public programming. Last year, for example, AHA awarded $380,000 in grants for local storytelling festivals, public history projects, cultural celebrations, civics education, book clubs, art talks, documentaries, and much more. AHA has also paused some of its original programming, including its Road Scholars Speakers Bureau. This program provides scholar-storytellers who give fascinating talks at local libraries, senior citizen centers, historical societies, and more statewide.

Culverhouse’s gift gives the Alabama Humanities Alliance greater flexibility as it searches for sustainable, long-term funding to fill the $1.2 million gap left by DOGE’s cuts. Once fully realized, Culverhouse’s gift — in tandem with support from Alabamians across the state — could also help AHA preserve and restore beloved programming.

“The Alabama Humanities Alliance does the work that makes us all better, more informed citizens,” Culverhouse says. “They support learning about history, civics, and jurisprudence. They help us explore what we have in common so that we can come together, not apart. We need more of the humanities in our communities right now, not less.”

Culverhouse has a long history of supporting causes related to education, civic engagement, and public health, both here in his native Alabama and his current home of Florida. His father, Hugh Culverhouse Sr., was also a prominent philanthropist and a member of the Alabama Business Hall of Fame.

To help match this generous donation, Alabamians are encouraged to contribute directly at alabamahumanities.org/support.

Founded in 1974, the nonprofit and nonpartisan Alabama Humanities Alliance serves as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through our grantmaking and public programming, we promote lifelong learning and impactful storytelling that lifts up our state. We believe the humanities can bring our communities together and help us all see each other as fully human. Learn more at alabamahumanities.org.