Joe Biden has raised little of what he needs to build his presidential library, a new report finds
The former president's library foundation has $4 million on hand, and expects to raise far less than what a traditional presidential library would cost.
When it comes to funding his presidential library, former President Joe Biden is far behind on funds, the New York Times reported Saturday.
The report cites recent Internal Revenue Service filings from Biden’s library foundation, finding that the organization had not raised any money in 2024, the last year Biden was in office.
The fund contains just $4 million in leftover funds from Biden’s 2021 inauguration, according to the Times. The former president’s aides have suggested their vision for a library could cost $200 million.
The library foundation declined to say what it had raised in 2025. Biden is holding his first public event for potential library donors on Monday, the Times reported.
Should it ramp up fundraising, Biden’s team still anticipates raising a little more than $11 million by the end of 2027, according to the filings viewed by Times reporters.
Biden, who turned 83 this fall and is being treated for prostate cancer, has kept a low public profile since stepping back from his official duties.
Some of the former president’s loyal donors told the Times they had not been contacted for library contributions; other Democratic donors said they were not likely to give even if they are asked, saying they had soured on Biden’s legacy or were focused on projects to combat President Donald Trump.
Biden’s aides declined to make him available for an interview with the Times, though there are signs he has begun to step up his fundraising effort.
The former president and his wife, Jill Biden, penned a letter to donors in September asking them to schedule interviews with a private firm hired to assess financials for a future library, according to the newspaper.
Former presidents must raise their own money to fund their libraries, which have evolved from modest spaces to sprawling complexes complete with museums and other extras.
Former President Barack Obama’s still-unfinished “presidential center” in Chicago is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and will include a basketball court and vegetable garden in addition to a city library branch. Trump plans to raise nearly $1 billion for a library in downtown Miami, tax documents show.
Biden has said he would like his library to be built in his home state of Delaware. That decision comes as recent reporting found the University of Pennsylvania, where the former president has familial ties, did not express interest in hosting the library in Philadelphia.
Coupled with a lagging fundraising effort, Biden’s desire to keep his library near his home has spurred discussions among those close to him that he could merge his presidential library with the preexisting Biden institutions at the University of Delaware, according to the Times. The Newark-based university is the former president’s alma matter.
With the help of the Delaware state government, the university has already raised more than $20 million for a forthcoming “Biden Hall,” an extension of the Joseph R. Biden Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration.
Merging the library with the hall would be far cheaper — and modest — than other modern presidential libraries, though the Times reported that both projects currently remain separate.
Few details surrounding the library appear set in stone, however.
Asked about the prospect of a merger, a Biden spokesperson declined to comment to the Times, saying the former president’s team continues to be in an “exploratory and planning phase.”