The City University of New York raised a record $312 million in donations in the 2026 fiscal year, up 26% from the previous year. It was the public university system’s first annual fundraising total above $300 million.
Donations over the past four years have reached nearly $1.1 billion. The largest gift reported this year was $50 million from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott to Lehman College in the Bronx, the biggest donation in the college’s history.
CUNY is seeking private support for scholarships, emergency aid, food pantries and career programs. Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez has said rising costs and increasingly complex work mean the university cannot rely on public funding alone.
The fundraising result puts CUNY on track to exceed a goal set in its 2023 strategic plan: increasing donations by 30% by the end of the decade.
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