UNCF’s Justine Boyd applies early life lessons to the Mayor’s Masked Ball!
For more than 11 years, Justine Boyd has been sending kids off to college.
But in most cases, she doesn’t know their names, ages or anything about them. “But I do know that because of the many students I’ll never get to meet, my work will not be in vain,” Boyd says. “And it never ends.”
As the Atlanta-based assistant vice president of the United Negro College Fund, one of Boyd’s primary duties is overseeing the nonprofit’s scholarship department that gives out more than 10,000 financial awards and internship opportunities each year that often total more than $100 million. One of the main ways those efforts are supported is through the Mayor’s Masked Ball, an event held in various cities including Atlanta, the largest in terms of attendees and fundraising.
Held in late December and hosted in 2025 by Mayor Andre Dickens, the ball brings together corporate leaders, college presidents, students, dignitaries, community leaders and celebrities to celebrate UNCF and support 37 Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Boyd has been part of the ball since she joined UNCF 11 years ago, but its roots go back to 1983 when it was launched by former mayor and United Nations ambassador Andrew Young and Billye Aaron, wife of Braves’ star Hank Aaron.
“They wanted companies to give back to a meaningful cause and mission,” Boyd says. “And they are still involved. Every mayor since then has hosted this event, and it’s become the closing gala of the holiday season. In 2024, 1,900 attended at The Signia by Hilton near Mercedes-Benz stadium, and we usually have a waiting list.”
When Boyd joined the nonprofit, the event was raising about $800,000. But she has steadily grown that total so that in the last four years alone, the amount has grown by almost $1 million each year, topping out at more than $4 million in 2024. She did it by bringing in new people with new ideas and building stronger connections to current donors.
“We want to have relationships that aren’t just transactions,” she says. “I’m always creating new partnerships and making sure we’re doing with the dollars what we say we will. You have to have a good reputation with donors.”
Boyd had a history of doing just that when she was recruited to join UNCF. Her prior position was at the helm of the YWCA of Greater Atlanta where generating funds was a top priority.
“But I realized fundraising and development are the hardest pieces,” she says. “At the same time, I saw doing that, and meeting all kinds of people in different communities, was what really made me thrive.”
Her work for UNCF is made easier by having mayors support the cause in cities like New Orleans; Jacksonville, Florida; Florence and Greenville, South Carolina; Columbus, Georgia; and, new in 2025, Memphis, Tennessee. In Atlanta, Dickens has been “a phenomenal partner,” Boyd says. “He’s provided enthusiasm and used his network and teams to raise funds. The mayors are our built-in ambassadors.”
Her work is also personally meaningful, Boyd says, as someone who grew up about two hours east of Atlanta in the tiny town of Lincolnton, where the idea of nonprofits was unheard of.
“My mother was an elementary school teacher, and my father was chairman of the deacon board at church, but they took it upon themselves to care for those in the community who didn’t have. So even though we didn’t know what nonprofits were, the idea was in my DNA as a way of life. I remember my daddy telling us that we’re supposed to be responsible for our community, and that’s who I’ve been. It’s what I was destined for.”
