Universities have collected over $300,000,000 in donations for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) funds since 2021, a report released Tuesday found.
The report, conducted by Defending Education (DE) and first shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation, found that many schools are creating donation funds to funnel money towards DEI scholarships and programs such as a “George Floyd Memorial Scholarship” and an “Anti-Racism Fund.” In response to the Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI initiatives, some of these efforts have simply been rebranded to no longer explicitly say DEI, the report claims.
DE’s report found at least 128 schools from 44 states plus Washington, D.C. have together created over 270 DEI funds, collecting roughly $336,271,100 in donations mostly between 2021 and 2025. The organization used “Day of Giving” campaign websites, university announcements, webpages and reports to calculate the total sum of the donations.
