After theOctober 7 attacks, donors to colleges and universities in the United States halted donations or cut ties with the schools over their responses to the attacks and the resultingantisemitism on campuses. The reaction has been called adonor backlash,[1][2] adonor revolt,[1][3] adonor crisis,[4] and adonor uprising.[5]
Atcolleges and universities in the United States, private donors give to specific purposes, often sit on universities' boards of trustees, and can fill funding gaps. According toIndiana University's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, educational institutions are second only to religious institutions as the largest recipient of donations in the United States. AtHarvard University, for example, philanthropy is the single largest contributor of revenue, accounting for 45% of the university's income.[1]
Pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses escalated in April 2024, spreadingin the United States andother countries, as part of widerGaza war protests. The escalation, nicknamed by activists the "studentintifada", began on April 18 after mass arrests at theColumbia University campus occupation, led byanti-Zionist groups, in which protesters demanded the university'sdisinvestment from Israel over theGaza genocide. Over 3,100 protesters were arrested in the U.S., including faculty members and professors, on over 60 campuses. Protests spread across Europe in May with mass arrestsin the Netherlands, 20 encampments established in the United Kingdom, and across universities in Australia and Canada.
The different protests' varying demands included severing financial ties with Israel, transparency about financial ties, ending partnerships with Israeli institutions, andamnesty for protesters. Universitiessuspended and expelled student protesters, in some cases evicting them from campus housing. Many universities relied on police toforcibly disband encampments and end occupations of buildings, several made agreements with protesters for encampments to be dismantled,[a] and others cut ties with Israeli institutions or companies involved with Israel and itsoccupied territories.[b] The campus occupations also resulted in the closure ofColumbia University,Cal Poly Humboldt, and theUniversity of Amsterdam;rolling strikes by academic workerson campuses in California, and the cancellation of some U.S. university graduation ceremonies.
Hundreds of groupsexpressed support for the protests, and the police response in the U.S. was criticised. Supporters of Israel and some Jewish students raised concerns aboutantisemitic incidents at or around the protests, prompting condemnations of the protests by international leaders. Students and faculty members who participated in the protests, many of whom are Jewish, said the protests were not antisemitic. In May 2024, it was estimated that 8% of U.S. college students had participated in the protests, with 45% supporting them and 24% opposed. 97% of the protests remainednonviolent and 28–40% of Americans supported the protests with 42–47% opposed.[c] The protests were compared to theanti-Vietnam and1968 protests, politically criticized by a wide range of mainstreamU.S. Republican andDemocratic politicians, and frequently counter-protested byZionist andright-wing organizations.Major donors announced they would cut their ties and withhold donations to the schools in protest of the colleges' responses.[1]
After the escalation ofpro-Palestinian encampments and occupations on college campuses in April 2024, at which there were concerns about antisemitism, safety of Jewish students, and violence, additional donors announced disassociations with colleges and universities and the cessation of donations.[20][5]
AtHarvard University, a coalition of student groups released an anti-Israel statement blaming Israel for the attacks on October 8. Three days later did Harvard address the matter directly, with a statement from then-presidentClaudine Gay that drew criticism from Jewish and Israeli students for not acknowledging the October 7 attacks.[1][21]
On October 13, philanthropistIdan Ofer stepped down from the executive board of theHarvard Kennedy School, citing "lack of clear evidence of support from the University's leadership for the people of Israel following the tragic events of the past week, coupled with their apparent unwillingness to recognize Hamas for what it is, a terrorist organization."[21]
On October 16, theWexner Foundation cut ties with Harvard, citing the "dismal failure of Harvard's leadership to take a clear and unequivocal stand against the barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians by terrorists."[22]
In December 2023,Len Blavatnik halted donations to Harvard after controversial testimony by President Gay at the2023 United States Congress hearing on antisemitism and antisemitism at Harvard after the October 7 attacks. Blavatnik had donated at least $270 million to the school.[23][24]
In September 2023, theUniversity of Pennsylvania (UPenn) hosted the controversialPalestine Writes Literary Festival, prompting more than 4,000 people, including prominent donors, to sign an open letter to university presidentLiz Magill, saying that "platforming of outright antisemitism without denunciation from the university is unacceptable." In the days after the October 7 attacks in 2023, donors such asMark Rowan, CEO ofApollo Global Management, called the university's response insufficient, demanded that Magill and Bok step down, and called for other alumni to "close their checkbooks" until their resignations.[25][26] In 2018, Rowan donated $50 million to theWharton School, considered the largest donation the school had ever received, and he chaired Wharton's board of advisors. Rowan became a key influential voice encouraging wealthy donors to withhold donations to schools.[3]
After hearing Rowan's criticism of UPenn, investorSteve Eisman asked UPenn to remove his family's name from a scholarship, telling officials that "he does not want my family's name associated with the University of Pennsylvania, ever." Eisman was also frustrated by UPenn's response to Palestine Writes.[3]
On October 15,Jon Huntsman Jr. announced that his family foundation would stop donating to UPenn, writing to Magill that, "Moral relativism has fueled the university's race to the bottom and sadly now has reached a point where remaining impartial is no longer an option." Huntsman previously served on Upenn's board of trustees.Jon Huntsman Sr. had donated at least $50 million to the Wharton School as of 2014.[26]
Also on October 15, investor and computer scientistDavid Magerman announced he was withdrawing his grants to the school over the school's handling of the situation.[27]
After Magill's controversial appearance during aU.S. Congressional hearing on antisemitism in December 2023, in which she avoided questions about how students calling for the genocide of Jews would be punished, hedge fund CEO Ross Stevens rescinded a planned $100 million donation to the school.[28]
On October 27, hedge fund managerLeon Cooperman said he would no longer donate toColumbia University after donating over $50 million in previous years, amid the rise of antisemitism at the school.[29]
In April 2024,Robert Kraft announced that he was "not comfortable" supporting Columbia University until actions were taken to end theencampments on campus. Kraft had donated at least $8.5 million to the university since 2000.[20]
That same month, theRussell Berrie Foundation announced it was suspending its giving to Columbia over the university's lack of response to "create a tolerant and secure environment for Jewish members of the Columbia community." The foundation had donated more than $85 million to the university.[5]
In January 2025, Avi Kaner, owner ofMorton Williams, redirected his donations from the president of Columbia's discretionary fund to the university's Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. Kaner had made annual gifts to Columbia for 30 years.[30]
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U.S. Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell praised Rowan on the Senate floor, noting that Rowan's call to boycott the school had spread like wildfire, precipitating a crisis that by one account could put a billion-dollar hole in the university's books.[3]
According to Lee Gardner of theChronicle of Higher Education in October 2023, the financial impact on schools such as Harvard and UPenn would likely be felt in the long-term, on gifts and donations that would come to fruition over years. Smaller private schools and state flagship schools would be impacted if the donor backlash spread from the Ivy League. Sara Harberson, a former associate dean of admissions at UPenn, said that big donors cutting ties could convince smaller donors to end their contributions, hurt alumni relations, and put pressure on the university president or board of trustees.[1]
In November 2023, Harvard gift officers expressed their fear in theHarvard Crimson that long-time donors would stop giving as a result of the controversy over the university's response to the Israel-Hamas war and concerns about antisemitism on campus.[2] Gifts to Harvard dropped 15% during the 2024 fiscal year, the biggest decrease in donations in 8 years.[31]
Columbia University's Gift Day on October 2, 2024, its first since the October 7 attacks, raised 29% less in gifts compared to 2022 and was the first year that total monetary donations had declined since the first Gifting Day in 2012.[4]
The Penn Fund at the University of Pennsylvania raised less money from fewer donors in 2024 than any year since 2020, with donations down 21% compared to the previous year.[32]
Several donors redirected their giving toIsraeli universities or Jewish causes. Two months after cutting financial ties with Columbia University, Robert Kraft directed a $1 million donation toYeshiva University in June 2024 to fund a program for students seeking to transfer to the Jewish university.[33] That month, an anonymous Columbia University graduate donated $260 million toBar-Ilan University in Israel.[34] David Magerman redirected $5 million intended for UPenn to five Israeli universities in October, includingJerusalem College of Technology,Tel Aviv University,Technion, andBar-Ilan University, to create degree tracks in English.[27]
Donations from foreign entities and individuals came under increasing attention after the October 7 attacks, due to concerns that the money was fueling antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses. In 2025, theU.S. House passed the DETERRENT Act, requiring universities to report foreign donations above $50,000, down from $250,000 under current law, and to disclose any donations from so-called countries of concern, including Iran and Saudi Arabia.[35]
