College donations reach $78 billion

U.S. colleges and universities collected approximately $78 billion from donors during the 2025 fiscal year. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education reported a 4% increase over the previous year. This total represents the latest figure in a survey that has tracked voluntary support for decades.

Individuals provided $17.5 billion of that sum. Personal giving rose nearly 12% compared to the prior year. In contrast, contributions from foundations dropped by about 5% to $13 billion. Corporations added $5.4 billion to the pool, marking a 9.3% increase.

The decline in foundation support shifted the balance of power. Individuals now outgive foundations by roughly $4.5 billion. This gap widened as personal checks increased while institutional money retreated. Development offices now rely on living donors as the primary base for fundraising efforts.

The survey included 670 institutions, representing about 18% of colleges and universities in the country. Public campuses reported slightly better results than private ones. Sixty-four percent of public schools saw higher giving levels, compared to 55% of private institutions.

Alumni giving climbed 10.9% for the year. This growth stemmed from larger individual gifts rather than an increase in the number of donors. The median gift from graduates reached $1,895. Checks of $1,000 or more accounted for much of the financial gain.

Fewer graduates contributed compared to previous years. Jenny Cooke Smith, executive director of insights in data, research and technology for the CASE, noted a change in behavior among younger alumni. She stated, “Our younger alumni are absolutely engaging with our institutions. They’re not necessarily doing so in a monetary way.” Fundraising offices can no longer count on a wide base of modest alumni gifts. Instead, the value of four- and five-figure checks has grown on final tallies.

Donors increasingly control how their money is spent. About 81% of gifts were designated for a specific purpose. Unrestricted giving still grew by 24%, giving administrators more flexibility to address urgent needs. Bequests accounted for 24% of giving in 2025, up from 20% two years earlier. This shift reflects an older generation moving support into wills and planned gifts. These funds often arrive in large, restricted blocks tied to named purposes.

Roughly 59.5% of gift income supported current operations. Another 27.8% went to restricted endowment, and 10.3% funded physical capital such as new buildings. Jean-Pierre Conte, a 1985 Colgate University graduate, was one of five alumni whose gifts totaled $105 million for a 2025 campus initiative. His contribution specifically funded a new social center on the university’s West Campus.

Conte also supports programs that prepare students for college. He is a consistent backer of SEO Scholars, a nonprofit that helps public high school students prepare for higher education. The group provides support through degree completion. SEO Scholars reports that 85% of its participants finish college with a bachelor’s degree. The organization serves more than 1,200 students across over 180 colleges in more than 30 states.

The data shows a clear trend toward individual control and larger single gifts. As foundation funding cools, universities are turning more heavily to alumni and individual donors. The structure of giving has changed, with less reliance on broad-based small donations and more dependence on targeted, high-value contributions from specific supporters.