UNIVERSITY: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Funds and Fundraising

Investigations

Number of States: 44 plus the District of Columbia

Number of colleges and universities: 130

Number of DEI funds: 281

Total amount of DEI donations/funding tracked: $373,344,424

SUMMARY

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. The purpose of these funds range from the establishment of identity-based scholarships to funding DEI related programming on campuses.

While President Trump’s 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. In some cases that are captured in this report, universities just rebranded the fund(s) or program. Below is one such example which features the same giving account number under different labels:

To date, we have been able to track down over $373,344,424 in donations to fund institution DEI programs, scholarships, and offices. While some of the funding has been tracked down via “Day of Giving” style campaign webpages, the vast majority of the money has been traced through university announcements, webpages, and reports. The information contained in this report primarily covers the years from 2021 to present with one or two exceptions noted below.

For example, in a now deleted University of Michigan report titled “Infrastructure Item: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fundraising,” it states that according to “those units able to identify their DEI funds, U-M raised over $98,665,269 for a wide range of DEI initiatives and funds, including scholarships for first-generation students.” The university also established a “George Floyd Memorial Scholarship” and “scholarship fund” in the wake of that event. The report time frame is from FY2016 to FY2021.

Additionally, in 2022, the University of Connecticut’s UCONN Foundation donated $23 million towards diversity, equity, and inclusion with the intent to “support important DEI factors, such as diversity of race, socioeconomics, and gender and sexual identity.”

According to a 2023 University of Delaware report, the university was able to raise $21 million to expand its diversity, equity, and inclusion programming. One of the funds included in the donor haul was it’s “Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, or JEDI, Fund” which states that support “helps provide programs, resources and opportunities to cultivate educated and empowered individuals who not only understand the origins of societal challenges related to equity and social justice but also have the tools to create solutions to address them.”

In 2023, the University of Illinois’ Grainger College of Engineering and Mechanical Science & Engineering Alumni Board contributed $100,000 to the department’s “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative” to “help support scholarships for undergraduates, a mentoring program, an invited lecture series, and travel grants for undergraduates and graduate students to attend DEI meetings.”

Meanwhile, the University of California, Berkeley collected $186,420 in donations for “Increasing Diversity and Opportunity at Cal” during its “Big Give 2025” campaign.

We aim to highlight these funds as well as current and past DEI-based programs in higher education. This report contains both current and archived university webpages which highlight these DEI funds and the purpose for them.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of the Arts and Architecture includes its “Anti-racism Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion” program which includes the UCLA Arts Racial Equity Fund which is an “AEDI scholarship fund established to support the realization of a more inclusive, equitable, and representative School of the Arts and Architecture with an emphasis on recruitment and retention practices rooted in diversifying our school community,” and was “created to address disparities in representation, to increase access to education, to strengthen the recruitment and retention of under-represented students.”
  • The University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center features a “National DEI Defense Fund” that is intended to be used to counter anti-DEI efforts such as “ban books,” the elimination of “diversity and inclusion educational programs,” and the suppression of the “teaching of truths about America’s racial past and present.”
  • Naropa University’s (CO) support page includes making donations to the university’s “Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Scholarship” fund and its “Psychedelic Studies BIPOC Scholarship Fund.”
  • In 2021, Florida International University’s Foundation raised $10,000,000 for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives including $4,000,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to “establish the Digital Transformation Program at StartUP FIU Food, an online platform to help people of color who are food entrepreneurs expand their businesses to the digital marketplace.”
  • The University of Michigan states in a removed webpage that from 2016-2021 it raised $98,665,269 for “a wide range of DEI initiatives and funds, including scholarships for first-generation students.”
  • University at Buffalo’s (NY) School of Law Social Justice and Racial Equity Fund states that it is “designed to support a variety of initiatives, including diversity scholarships and fellowships, bar exam support for students of color, the Discover Law program for underrepresented students considering law school, and training and programming on racial justice topics.”

EXAMPLES

University of Southern California (CA)

The University of Southern California’s National DEI Defense Fund states that it 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 America’s racial past and present” and is “committed to using evidence to protect the rights of students and families from misinformation, and to ensure that educators are able to responsibly prepare equity-minded citizens.”

Contributions to the fund will be used to “purchase and mail free DEI-focused books to students,” “offer financial support to high-quality DEI-focused educational programs and initiatives that have been disadvantaged by politicized, ill-informed budget cuts,” “provide legal support,” “raise national consciousness about threats to democracy and support the formation of DEI defense coalitions across the country,” and “deploy trusted experts who can testify in anti-DEI legislative hearings and provide evidence-informed guidance to K-12 and higher education leaders, school board members, and elected officials.”

Louisiana State University (LA)

Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication appears to have rebranded its “Diversity, Equity and Media Grant” programming to the “Manship School’s Izard and Scripps Pilot Grant” program.

The school states that the grants “support research projects that analyze the dialogue and action that combat racism, institutional discrimination and systematic oppression.”

The “selected proposals are funded by the Ralph S. Izard Race and Media Studies fund and the Scripps Howard Race and Media Fund” which reflect the school’s “commitment to supporting research that analyzes and reports findings related to racism, institutional discrimination and systematic oppression.”

2020-diversity-equity-and-media-cfp-june30-2020Download

Loyola University Maryland (MD)

Loyola University Maryland’s Diversity-Justice (D-J) Requirement Fund states that its mission is to “support faculty in their efforts to infuse diversity and justice content into their courses and to support them in the process of applying to get these courses D-J designated.”

To help achieve the university’s core values and aims, all “students admitted to Loyola under the AY24-25 Academic Catalogue and later are required to successfully complete two Diversity-Justice designated courses anywhere in their curriculum.”

Carnegie Mellon University (PA)

The Tepper School of Business’ Community and Inclusion Fund states that it will “provide funding for events, programs and initiatives that support diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging” which include “cultural celebrations,” “educational speakers,” “DEI&B awareness programs,” and “academic course development and research.”

According to a September 9, 2024, news release, the “Community & Inclusion Fund” was used for a variety of events, activities, and programming such as a “Pink Party” event that “supports Pittsburgh Sisters, an organization that focuses on Black trans women in Pittsburgh.”

University of South Carolina (SC)

The University of South Carolina honors college support page featured a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion fund that supported “initiatives that cultivate an inclusive environment where all students are respected and have a sense of belonging.” Currently, this fund has been removed from the college website, but it can be found here as an archived page.

UNIVERSITIES

The following is not a comprehensive list. As universities continue to remove webpages, links may be taken down or redirected. These will be updated whenever possible.

An * denotes that an archived page has been used in place of the original because that institution has removed the specific webpage.

ALABAMA

Auburn University

University of Alabama

University of Alabama Birmingham

ALASKA

University of Alaska Anchorage

ARIZONA

Arizona State University

University of Arizona

CALIFORNIA

California Polytechnic Institute*

California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt

California State University Chico

Loyola Marymount University

Otis College of Art and Design

Sacramento State University

Santa Clara University

Scripps College

Stanford University

University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Davis

University of California, Irvine

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

University of California, San Francisco

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of Southern California

COLORADO

Fort Lewis College

Metropolitan State University of Denver

Naropa University

  • Funds
    • Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Scholarship
    • Psychedelic Studies BIPOC Scholarship Fund

University of Colorado Boulder

University of Denver

CONNECTICUT

Southern Connecticut State University

University of Connecticut

Yale University

DELAWARE

Delaware State University

University of Delaware

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

The George Washington University

FLORIDA

Florida International University

Florida State University

GEORGIA

Clark Atlanta University

University of Georgia

IDAHO

University of Idaho

ILLINOIS

Augustana College

Loyola University Chicago

Northern Illinois University

Roosevelt University

Southern Illinois University

University of Illinois

INDIANA

Butler University

Indiana University (Bloomington)

Indiana University Indianapolis

University of Evansville

IOWA

DRAKE UNIVERSITY

KANSAS

Kansas State University

KENTUCKY

University of Louisville

LOUISIANA

Louisiana State University

  • Manship School of Mass Communication
  • LSU Foundation (found under “search for a fund” – term “diversity”)
    • CHSE Diversity and Civic Engagement Fund
    • College of Agriculture Diversity and Retention Support Fund
    • College of Business Diversity Support Fund
    • Denny Shelton Diversity Non-Endowed Scholarship Fund
    • Diversity and Inclusion Initiative Scholarship Fund
    • Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College Diversity Recruitment Program Support Fund
    • RRSLA Diversity Equity Inclusion Fund

MAINE

The University of Maine

MARYLAND

University of Maryland

MASSACHUSETTS

Brandeis University

Clark University

Harvard University

Massachusetts College of Art and Design

University of Massachusetts Amherst

MICHIGAN

Michigan State University

University of Michigan

Wayne State University

MINNESOTA

College of St. Scholastica, The

Macalester College

University of Minnesota

MISSISSIPPI

Mississippi State University

University of Mississippi (Ole Miss)

MISSOURI

Saint Louis University

University of Missouri

MONTANA

Montana State University

NEBRASKA

Nebraska Wesleyan University

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

NEVADA

University of Nevada, Reno

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Dartmouth College

Plymouth State University

University of New Hampshire

NEW JERSEY

Rutgers University

Rutgers University – Camden

Stockton University

NEW MEXICO

University of New Mexico

NEW YORK

Adelphi University

Buffalo State University

Colgate University

  • Anti-racism Initiatives
    • The Henry Livingston Simpson Fund
    • Alumni of Color Third-Century Fund
    • President’s DEI Discretionary Fund
      • Internship Funds for Students of Color
      • Funds to Support Graduate Fellowships and Graduate School Applications

Fordham University

New York University

St. Lawrence University

Syracuse University

University at Albany

University of Buffalo

NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina State University

University of North Carolina

  • College of Arts and Sciences (search using term “Diversity”)
    • Alexander Yong and Wendi Sturgis Computer Science Diversity Initiative
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fund in the College of Arts and Sciences
    • Diversity Merit Scholarships-Private Donors
    • Dr. Robert E. Seymour Jr. Dean’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Endowment Fund
    • The Alexander Yong and Wendi Sturgis Computer Science Diversity Initiative Expendable Fund
    • The Balter Fund for Quality, Diversity and Inclusiveness in Philosophy
    • The Gwendolyn Harrison Smith Diversity Graduate Student Excellence Fund
    • The Slayton Evans Diversity Enhancement Fund
  • Kenan-Flagler Business School

OHIO

Baldwin Wallace University

Clark State College

Kenyon College

Miami University

Ohio University

  • 2022 Annual Report – Division of Diversity and Inclusion
    • George Floyd Memorial Scholarship Fund
    • Ebony Bobcat Network Scholarship Endowment – $300,000
    • The Rev. Dr. Francine C. Childs Social Justice Scholarship Endowment – $25,000
    • The Kent-Rudolph Scholarship Endowment – $25,000
    • The Colonel Frank E. Underwood, Sr., Scholarship Endowment – $25,000

The Ohio State University

OREGON

Oregon State University

Portland State University

University of Oregon

PENNSYLVANIA

Carnegie Mellon University

Drexel University

Eastern University

Haverford College

Lehigh University

Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)

Saint Joseph’s University

Swarthmore College

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pittsburgh

Wilkes University

RHODE ISLAND

Brown University

Bryant University

University of Rhode Island

SOUTH CAROLINA

College of Charleston

University of South Carolina

TENNESSEE

The University of Tennessee

Vanderbilt University

TEXAS

Rice University

Southwestern University

University of Texas at Austin

  • Giving – [using the term “Diversity” in the search bar]
    • College of Natural Sciences DEI Concentration
    • Diversity, Equity, Access and Inclusion Projects
    • Fund to Advance Equity and Inclusion at the Steve Hicks School
    • Graduate Student Diversity
    • JEDI Legislative Conference Fellowship
    • Pre-Health and Diversity Scholars
    • Misra Family Endowed Excellence Fund for Diversity and Inclusion

UTAH

University of Utah

VERMONT

University of Vermont

VIRGINIA

Eastern Mennonite University

University of Richmond

University of Virginia

Washington and Lee University

WASHINGTON

University of Washington

University of Washington – Seattle

University of Washington – Tacoma

WEST VIRGINIA

West Virginia University

WISCONSIN

University of Wisconsin – Madison

  • 2021 – Raimey-Noland Campaign – $20,000,000
  • This sample list of funds, along with many more, can be found through the UW Foundation search database using the following search terms: “diversity” or “equity”
    • CALS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Fund
    • Chancellor’s Scholarship Program Fund
    • Deloitte Foundation Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Scholarship Fund in Business
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Fund in Psychology
    • Division of Diversity, Equity, & Educational Achievement Student Emergency Support Fund
    • Engineering Diversity Affairs Fund
    • Industrial and Systems Engineering Diversity Scholarship Fund
    • Institute for Diversity Science Fund
    • La Follette Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Fund
    • Raimey-Noland Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Fund
    • School of Nursing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Fund
    • School of Veterinary Medicine Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Fund
    • Sociology Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fund
    • Wisconsin School of Business Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fund
    • Wisconsin School of Business Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Scholarship Fund