Former President Joe Biden’s efforts to establish a presidential library are facing significant hurdles, with fundraising lagging far behind the ambitious $200 million goal set by his team. According to a December 13, 2025, report from The New York Times, the Biden library foundation has raised only a “small fraction” of the required funds, casting doubt on whether the project can match the scale of recent presidential libraries.
Public filings and interviews with Democratic donors, as reported by both The New York Times and Fox News, reveal that the foundation did not receive any new donations in 2024. Instead, the project has been sustained by approximately $4 million left over from Biden’s 2021 inauguration, which was used to seed the effort. The foundation declined to disclose how much money it had raised in 2025, but told reporters that Biden was only now beginning to actively fundraise for the library.
In a filing to the Internal Revenue Service, the Biden library foundation projected it would raise just $11.3 million by the end of 2027. This figure is a far cry from the $200 million target and places the project well behind the pace set by other recent presidential library efforts. For context, former President Barack Obama’s presidential center in Chicago has raised approximately $1.5 billion, while President Donald Trump has announced plans to raise more than $950 million for his proposed library in Miami.
“Still, Mr. Biden’s foundation told the I.R.S. this year that it expected to bring in just $11.3 million, total, by the end of 2027. That would be far below the pace set by other recent presidents, and far less than the $200 million that Mr. Biden’s aides say they want to raise eventually,” The New York Times reported.
The slow pace of fundraising has sparked discussions about potentially consolidating the Biden presidential library with existing Biden-related projects at the University of Delaware, his alma mater. According to The New York Times, such a move could allow the library to be housed within ‘Biden Hall,’ a separate initiative already funded by millions of dollars raised by the university. However, as of December 14, 2025, the University of Delaware confirmed it had not transferred any funds to the library foundation and declined to comment on whether the projects might ultimately merge.
Kelly Scully, a spokeswoman for Biden, told The New York Times and Fox News, “We continue to be in an exploratory and planning phase.” The foundation also stated that it had delayed major fundraising events until now to allow time for “intensive research,” including visits to other presidential libraries to glean best practices and ideas.
Despite the exploratory status, some of Biden’s most loyal contributors said they had not been contacted about giving to the library. Others expressed reluctance to donate, with many Democratic donors citing their focus on opposing Donald Trump or dissatisfaction with Biden’s term in office. In a particularly blunt assessment, John Morgan, a major Democratic donor and longtime Biden supporter, told The New York Times, “The Biden staff, they ruined any type of good library for him. He’ll be lucky to have a bookmobile.” Morgan also contrasted his experience with Biden’s team to those of previous Democratic presidents, noting that Bill Clinton and Barack Obama maintained much better relationships with their supporters, which enabled them to build large foundations and libraries.
“As a point of contrast, Mr. Morgan said he had dinner with former President Bill Clinton last week to discuss a possible donation to his library for an expansion. Mr. Morgan said Mr. Clinton and former President Barack Obama kept much better relations with their donors and supporters, which has enabled them to build large foundations and libraries,” Fox News reported.
Adding to the complexity, The New York Times explained that the Biden Hall and the Biden Library are currently two separate projects, “competing for the same pool of donors.” Many loyalists hope that the library could eventually be housed inside Biden Hall, turning two projects into one and potentially streamlining fundraising efforts. However, the Biden library foundation has declined to comment on whether it is considering a merger of the two projects.
Biden himself has said little publicly about his plans for the library, other than expressing a desire to locate it in Delaware. Aides have indicated that he envisions something “smaller and cheaper” than Obama’s center, but even a modest project appears far out of reach given the current fundraising climate.
The challenges facing Biden’s library effort stand in stark contrast to the progress made by his predecessors. As The New York Times and Fox News both noted, Obama’s presidential center has already raised $1.5 billion, and Trump’s plans for a Miami-based library are moving forward with high-profile support. On December 13, 2025, Eric Trump announced on a podcast that Florida officials had approved giving away a prized piece of Miami real estate for his father’s library, boasting, “I got the library approved yesterday. We just got the greatest site in Florida and I’m going to be building that.” The planned Trump library is described as an “iconic building” and will reportedly include a “fake news wing.”
Meanwhile, the Biden library foundation’s slow progress is compounded by internal and external skepticism. The foundation’s own projections indicate a fundraising pace that, if unchanged, would leave the project hundreds of millions short of its goal by the end of the decade. With major donors either uncontacted or unwilling to contribute, and with the possibility of merging with existing university projects still uncertain, the future of Biden’s presidential library remains in limbo.
As the presidential library arms race heats up—with Obama’s sprawling center, Trump’s Miami ambitions, and Clinton’s ongoing expansion—Biden’s effort stands out for its lack of momentum and donor enthusiasm. Whether the project can overcome these obstacles and secure a place among the nation’s modern presidential libraries is still very much an open question.
For now, the Biden team continues its “exploratory and planning phase,” hoping that a new fundraising push or a creative partnership might turn the tide. But with the clock ticking and the competition raising the stakes, the challenge ahead is daunting.
