Former President Joe Biden is missing life on the easy street of Washington, D.C. politics, where donors fall all over themselves to give you and your family money.
Without power, Biden’s finding out life isn’t so easy on the other side. Specifically, Biden’s effort to build a presidential library in Delaware is facing serious financial difficulties.
His foundation has managed to raise only a fraction of what is needed to construct the project – and one top Democrat said Biden will be lucky to even get a “bookmobile” out of donors.
The Joseph R. Biden Jr. Presidential Library Foundation told the Internal Revenue Service it expects to raise just $11.3 million by the end of 2027, far below the $200 million goal.
IRS filings show the foundation did not receive any new donations in 2024, Biden’s final year in office. The organization was seeded solely with $4 million in leftover funds from Biden’s 2021 inauguration.
The foundation declined to say how much it raised in 2025, and claimed Biden is only beginning to actively raise money for the project. Biden held his first event for potential library donors on Monday in Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood.
The fundraising struggles stand in stark contrast to recent presidential libraries.
George W. Bush’s library foundation met its $500 million fundraising goal before the library was dedicated.
The Obama Foundation has raised over $1.5 billion, with $850 million committed to the controversial Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which is set to open in 2026.
Even George H.W. Bush’s library raised $43 million when it opened in 1997.
President Donald Trump’s planned library in Miami, which was formally approved by the Florida Cabinet in September 2025, is aiming for nearly $1 billion and has already secured land and substantial funding.
Several reliable Democratic donors have said they are reluctant to contribute to Biden’s library. Some said they had not been contacted about giving to the project. Others said they would not donate even if asked because they were so frustrated with Biden’s presidency.
Some Democrats are withholding donations for the library after Biden pardoned his son Hunter in December 2024.
John Morgan, a longtime Democratic donor and one of Biden’s top supporters, said he would not give “a penny” toward the library after poor treatment from Biden’s staff.
“The Biden staff, they ruined any type of good library for him,” Morgan said. “He’ll be lucky to have a bookmobile.”
Morgan said he recently had dinner with former President Bill Clinton to discuss a possible donation to his library for an expansion
According to four people familiar with the planning process, talks have pivoted to simply adding a Biden library to the existing Biden-affiliated institutions at the University of Delaware. The university has already raised at least $22 million, including $20 million from the Delaware state government, to construct “Biden Hall” as an extension of the Joseph R. Biden Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration.
Merging the library with Biden Hall would be far cheaper and more modest than other modern presidential libraries.
Biden’s library foundation released a statement saying it had delayed fundraisers until now to allow time for “intensive research,” which includes visits to other presidential libraries.
Biden, who turned 83 in November and is being treated for prostate cancer, has kept a low public profile since leaving office.