Former President Joe Biden’s long-promised presidential library is running into a harsh reality as almost no one is funding it.
In September, Biden’s team announced plans for a presidential library in Delaware, assembling former aides, longtime allies, and political supporters to oversee a museum and archival project.
A senior member of the Biden Foundation described the planned library to CBS News as a “vibrant and lasting space where history, learning, and civic leadership come together, inspiring future generations to lead with purpose, serve their communities, and strengthen our nation.”
But according to a new report from The New York Times, Biden has raised only a small fraction of what such a project typically requires.
“Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has raised only a small fraction of the money needed to construct a presidential library,” the paper reported, “leaving uncertainty about when a library might be built and its viability as a stand-alone project, according to public filings and interviews with his donors.”
IRS filings show that Biden’s foundation brought in no new donations in 2024, the final year of his presidency.
Instead, the group relied entirely on $4 million left over from his 2021 inauguration to seed the project.
The foundation declined to disclose its 2025 fundraising totals but acknowledged that Biden is only now beginning to actively raise money.
His first donor event is scheduled for Monday in Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood.
Even so, Biden’s foundation told the IRS it expects to bring in only $11.3 million by the end of 2027, far below projections for a modern presidential library.
The figure is also nowhere near the roughly $200 million Biden’s team has privately discussed.
By comparison:
• George W. Bush raised $500 million for his library.
• Barack Obama’s center is projected to cost $850 million.
• President Donald Trump’s planned center is projected to cost near $900 million.
Donors Aren’t Interested
According to the Times, even many of Biden’s most reliable past donors say they’ve not been contacted about giving.
Others say they are directing their resources toward anti-Trump efforts, or are unwilling to contribute at all after Biden’s final year in office.
Longtime Democratic Party donor John Morgan, who previously served as one of Biden’s top bundlers, told the Times:
“The Biden staff, they ruined any type of good library for him.
“He’ll be lucky to have a bookmobile.”
Library May Be Folded Into University of Delaware Instead
Because of fundraising shortfalls, Biden allies are reportedly discussing folding the presidential library into existing Biden-related initiatives at the University of Delaware, his alma mater.
According to four anonymous sources, the university has already raised substantial funds for a “Biden Hall” and could absorb the library project under that umbrella.
A Difficult Legacy Moment
The Biden Foundation’s modest forecast underscores the former president’s dwindling political capital after leaving office.
What was pitched as a major presidential landmark now faces the possibility of being dramatically downsized, or indefinitely delayed.
For now, Biden will attempt to personally jump-start the effort with a Georgetown meet-and-greet.
Whether donors return his calls remains unclear.
The former president set out to build a monument.
The early numbers suggest he may struggle to build anything at all.
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