CUNY Raises Record $312M
in Donations, Up 26%

CUNY Raised $1 Billion in Philanthropic Support Over Last Four Years

Growing Support Includes a Record $312 Million Raised in FY 2026

Donors Include MacKenzie Scott, the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation and Robin Hood

The City University of New York raised a record $312 million in philanthropic support in fiscal year 2026, marking a 26% increase over the previous year and bringing the University’s total fundraising over the past four years to nearly $1.1 billion.

It is the first time CUNY has raised more than $300 million in a single year, reflecting growing support from foundations, corporations, alumni and individual New Yorkers who believe in the University’s mission and in initiatives that help students succeed in college and prepare for careers.

The record year builds on CUNY’s long-term fundraising growth and puts the University on track to surpass the fundraising goal established in “CUNY Lifting New York,” its 2023-2030 strategic roadmap. The plan called for increasing fundraising by 30% by the end of the decade.

“CUNY has always been one of New York’s most powerful investments in opportunity, and this extraordinary year shows that more and more people recognize the value of that investment,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “We are deeply grateful to the foundations, alumni and New Yorkers whose generosity reflects their belief in our students and our mission. Their support is helping us reach higher and do help our students earn their degrees and build successful careers.”

The year’s largest donation was a historic $50 million gift from MacKenzie Scott to Lehman College, the largest in the college’s history. Combined with her $30 million gift in 2020, Scott has now given $80 million to Lehman as part of $130 million she’s gifted to CUNY colleges since 2020. The latest gift will support scholarships, student services and career pathways, including through CUNY Beyond, a University-wide initiative launched last year to integrate career-connected learning, work-based experience and employer engagement into the undergraduate experience.

Other major philanthropic supporters have also helped CUNY build and expand initiatives with impact across the University over the past year. Robin Hood, a longtime CUNY philanthropic partner, has provided $2 million in support for CUNY Beyond, while the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation provided $1 million for the initiative, along with $4.7 million funding for campus food pantries and other student needs. Petrie has also provided more than $13 million to CUNY campuses since 2017 to fund student emergency grants.

“If you care about economic mobility for kids who grow up in New York City, you have to care about CUNY,” said Cass Conrad, executive director of the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation. “We recognize that CUNY lifts more people into the middle class than any other institution in the city.”

“This record year reflects strong fundraising results from across the CUNY system, including the University’s 26 constituent colleges,” said CUNY Vice Chancellor for University Advancement Todd Michael Galitz. “Our generous donors provided important support for scholarships, emergency assistance, academic opportunities, career preparation and other student-success priorities.”

Other highlights included:

• CUNY’s senior colleges raised $206.5 million in fiscal year 2026, with several campuses posting sharp year-over-year gains. Brooklyn College’s $32.4 million was more than two-and-a-half times its previous year’s donations and Baruch College, with $34.8 million, nearly doubled its 2025 total.
• CUNY’s community colleges also drew increased support, totaling $36.7 million in fiscal year 2026, up from $30.3 million the previous year. One of the most successful campus fundraising drives was LaGuardia Community College’s Tomorrow 2.0 campaign, which raised more than $25 million after meeting a fundraising challenge that unlocked a $10 million gift from an anonymous donor. The funds support scholarships, internship stipends, emergency student aid and other resources that help students stay on track and graduate.

CUNY has also built a broad base of support through its annual giving campaign, #CUNYTuesday, which mobilizes alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends of the University from the week after Thanksgiving through the end of the year. In 2025, more than 5,300 people contributed to #CUNYTuesday, the largest number of donors in the campaign’s history, raising nearly $5.9 million. That total was 18% higher than the year before and nearly four times the amount raised the year Chancellor Matos Rodríguez began his tenure in 2019.

CUNY’s donor community has grown to include a wide range of supporters: major foundations, alumni giving back to their colleges and New Yorkers who see CUNY’s mission as essential to the city’s future.

One recent example is Anne Pilsbury, founder of Central American Legal Assistance, who had no previous affiliation with CUNY when she decided to make a $2 million gift to establish scholarships for first-generation college students from all backgrounds. “I chose CUNY because it is New York’s great gateway to education and upward mobility,” Pilsbury said. “I wanted to help provide students with opportunities their parents never had.”

Her gift illustrates a larger force behind CUNY’s fundraising momentum: donors who see an investment in the University’s students as an investment in New York itself. More than 80% of CUNY graduates remain in New York, contributing to the city’s workforce, communities and civic life. That reach has helped attract philanthropic support for initiatives that address both students’ immediate needs and their long-term economic mobility.

Along with CUNY Beyond, those efforts include CUNY CARES, a pilot initiative at CUNY’s three Bronx colleges that connects students with food, housing, health care, public benefits and other essential resources that can affect their ability to remain enrolled and complete their degrees. CUNY CARES has received philanthropic support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation and, most recently, Robin Hood donated $900,000 to expand the program.

The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and eight honors, graduate and professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving 247,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 50,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. CUNY’s graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “genius” grants. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background. To learn more about CUNY, visit https://www.cuny.edu.

Source: City University of New York