Princeton’s Annual Giving campaign provides tens of millions of dollars in unrestricted donations to the University from a wide range of undergraduate and graduate alumni, often in smaller-dollar amounts.
The Daily Princetonian obtained documents from the 2025 annual giving campaign and broke down donation data by geographic area and class year. The reports provide a window into the fundraising profile of the University, which prides itself on its loyal alumni and their willingness to donate.
By the end of this year’s Annual Giving campaign on June 30, the Class of 2000 had donated $6,409,989, the highest among all class years. The Class of 1995 came in second, with $6,170,054, and the Class of 1975 came in third, with $5,293,462 raised. The next largest amount raised came from the Class of 1985, lagging around $2 million behind the Class of 1975. For these classes, 2025 marks their 50th, 25th, 30th, and 40th graduation anniversaries, respectively — all major reunions. For the majority of classes, the overall alumni giving totaled between $50,000 and $1,000,000.
Regionally, alumni groups within the United States far outpaced any international ones, according to data collected through July 26 (four days before the end of the giving period). Northern New Jersey alone donated almost double what the continent of Europe did. The cumulative alumni gifts from the region labeled “The Americas,” which encompasses all North and South American countries, except Canada and the United States, was under $10,000. In contrast, donors from New York City had already given over $800,000 just two months into the campaign. The only American regions that donated less than Europe were the Mideast (the greater region around the Ohio-Pennsylvania border) and Great Plains.
The dominance of donations from New York City, New England, and California reflects the regional concentration of wealth in the U.S. as well as where Princetonians favor relocating after graduation. Last year, 30 percent of all Princetonians in the Class of 2025 reported in the 2025 Senior Survey that they would live in New York right out of school, just like the Class of 2024 a year prior.
While the Northeast largely increased its donations relative to last year, areas like the Missouri Valley saw a drastic drop. During the FY 2024 Annual Giving campaign, the Missouri Valley had donated $1,031,428 by June 26, 2024. By June 26 of this year, however, the region had donated only $17,410. These large year-to-year swings in regional donations often reflect changes in large gifts from individual donors.
During the latest annual giving period, however, the University advocated for alumni to donate as part of its “Stand Up” campaign in opposition to the Trump administration.
“[At] least one very large gift [came in] because the person was upset with what the government had done to Princeton, and wanted to [show his support] for Princeton [in] challenging times,” said Charles D. Fox ’75 in an interview with the ‘Prince’. Fox serves as the 1975 Class Agent, and he and his team helped raise over $5.3 million dollars in alumni gifts in 2025.
For some classes, sentimentality may have played a larger role. “[At] the core, what you have is Princeton as an institution, and the vast majority of people are willing to support that institution, regardless of whether they agree with where things are going politically,” said Tiffany Madigan ’00 in an interview with the ‘Prince.’ Like Fox, Madigan is a Class Agent for her year. “Princeton kind of [outlives] all of those political issues, and that’s what makes it great,” she added, noting that nostalgia, financial stability, and effective communication were large contributing factors to her class’s giving in 2025.
Adding to these usual patterns, Madigan noted that the 25th reunion was particularly important to the Class of 2000, since they “didn’t have [their] 20th because of COVID, and so [they] hadn’t really been on campus together in a decade,” she said.
Undergraduate alumni giving makes up the vast majority of Annual Giving gifts in the second half of the fiscal year. Donations also accelerated in the last week of this year’s Annual Giving campaign. Undergraduate alumni gave almost $53.5 million dollars by the end of June, parents of alumni donated around $1.5 million, and graduate alumni donated just under $2.5 million. The remaining gifts came from “Other Gifts,” a category separate from undergraduate, graduate, or parents of alumni gifts.
Despite alumni participation falling in recent years, Princeton still maintains the highest alumni donation rate in the Ivy League. Even as some regions pulled back in their gifts, others surged, and Princeton’s classes continued to donate.
“[You] don’t pull the rug up behind you, ... [you] help build a ladder so more people can come,” said Madigan.
As uncertainty mounts around funding for higher education, Princeton’s alumni may make all the difference.
Veda Devireddy is a Data contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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