In a recent revelation, it has been discovered that universities across the United States have amassed over $300 million in donations for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) funds since 2021.
This information was brought to light in a report released on Tuesday.
The research, conducted by Defending Education (DE) and initially shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation, revealed that numerous educational institutions have established donation funds to channel money towards DEI scholarships and initiatives. These include the "George Floyd Memorial Scholarship" and the "Anti-Racism Fund." According to the Daily Caller, the report suggests that in the wake of the Trump administration's stringent measures against DEI initiatives, some of these efforts have been subtly rebranded to avoid explicit mention of DEI.
The DE report identified at least 128 schools across 44 states, including Washington, D.C., that have collectively established over 270 DEI funds. These funds have gathered approximately $336,271,100 in donations, primarily between 2021 and 2025. The organization utilized "Day of Giving" campaign websites, university announcements, webpages, and reports to calculate the total sum of the donations.
The University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) was identified as one of several schools that renamed its "Office of Diversity and Inclusion Fund" to the "Community and Belonging Support Fund." In a similar vein, Louisiana State University (LSU) appears to have rebranded its "Diversity, Equity and Media Grant" to the "Manship Schools Izard and Scripps Pilot Grant." The purpose of this grant, as stated, is to "support research projects that analyze the dialogue and action that combat racism, institutional discrimination and systematic oppression."
LSU's website states, Sparked by the murder of George Floyd by police, the country has seen unprecedented protests against police brutality and systemic racism targeting Black Americans. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted racial and ethnic minorities, drawing further attention to the dangerous racial disparities in health care. The unfolding of these events reinforces our mission to advance important conversations through research findings in the fields of journalism and mass communication.
The University of Michigan (UM) also hosts an "Anti-Racism Fund" which aims to "support individual student projects for anti-racism work, with a specific focus on confronting anti-Blackness, racism against Indigenous peoples, and confronting white supremacy."
Before 2021, UM released a DEI report covering fiscal years 2016 through 2021 titled "Infrastructure Item: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fundraising," which stated the school "raised over $98,665,269 for a wide range of DEI initiatives and funds" and included items such as a "George Floyd Memorial Scholarship."
The DE report reads, American universities, especially in the wake of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, have established funds that focus on the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) inside the institutions. While President Trumps Executive Orders have incentivized universities to take down webpages and halt DEI related programmings, it does not mean that these institutions are necessarily ending these practices permanently.
The University of Connecticuts (UConn) UCONN Foundation fund received contributions from over 3,000 donors in 2022, amounting to $23 million to "support important DEI factors, such as diversity of race, socioeconomics, and gender and sexual identity" at the school.
Some institutions, like the University of Southern California (USC), have even established a "National DEI Defense Fund" with the schools Race and Equity Center to counteract efforts to halt DEI. The schools website reads, Establishing the National DEI Defense Fund is one of many ways the USC Race and Equity Center is countering politicized efforts to ban books, eliminate diversity and inclusion educational programs, and suppress the teaching of truths about Americas racial past and present. Politicized attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion pose serious threats to democracy. Please join us in protecting the rights of students, parents, and educators by making a tax-deductible gift today.
Since his return to office, Trump has been actively working to eliminate DEI initiatives and race-based programs from schools and federal agencies. He has signed several executive orders banning the use of federal funding to support such topics. However, numerous schools and entire states have expressed their intention to defy the administrations request to terminate all DEI initiatives, denying that DEI violates civil rights laws.
The administration has issued numerous warnings about its demands to end the programs and has been quick to threaten federal funding cuts for those who may still be following race-exclusionary practices. Despite these threats, the universities remain steadfast in their commitment to DEI initiatives, reflecting the ongoing tension between federal directives and institutional autonomy.
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