On February 22, 1996, the United Negro College Fund announced the creation of the Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute, named in honor and memory of the founder of UNCF. Founded by the College Fund's President and CEO, William H. Gray, III, the Institute is the first African American led research institute in the country to design, conduct, analyze, interpret and disseminate research on blacks in education and provide essential information to the public, policymakers, and educators. The Institute is located at UNCF headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia.

Since its inception in 1996, the Institute has made great strides in the development of research on African Americans in education. The Institute's activities have included the following:

• Designing and producing the first-ever comprehensive books on the status and progress of the education of African Americans in the United States;
• Publishing the first-ever report to present comprehensive regional comparisons of African Americans attending two-year colleges and four-year colleges and universities, public and private colleges and universities, and historically Black and traditionally White colleges and universities;
• Producing a compilation of research on African American higher education written leading experts in the field;
• Establishing the Institute's annual Summer Research Fellowship Program, a 10-week program where doctoral students have an opportunity to work on specific research projects being conducted at the Institute;
• Publishing booklets of up-to-date and vital statistics that address the trends and progress of African Americans in education;
• Hosting bi-annual meetings for the distinguished Advisory Committee to shape the Institute's research agenda, based on the most compelling issues facing African Americans in education;
• Designing, conducting, printing, and disseminating detailed annual reports on the progress of UNCF member institutions;
• Providing technical assistance and information to answer specific inquiries from academic institutions, policymakers, the media, and the general public with respect to the status and conditions of African Americans in education.