WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • The Biden library foundation reportedly held only $4 million from his failed 2024 campaign and hopes to raise $11.3 million.
  • No location has been selected, though Wilmington and the University of Delaware have been identified as possible sites.
  • Some Democratic donors have rejected contributing, with one declaring that no real library will ever be built.
  • A plan indicated $48 million to $60 million in possible construction funding, potentially involving Delaware state money.

Anyone hoping to visit the Joseph R. Biden Presidential Library may face a very long wait. Plans for a monument to the former president appear increasingly uncertain, with no confirmed location, a modest pool of money, and major Democratic donors showing little appetite for the project.

Biden left office with his public image battered by concerns about his physical and cognitive condition, incoherent remarks, and unpopular policy goals. Now his presidential library risks becoming another embarrassment for a former president whose legacy was already badly damaged.

The U.K.’s Daily Mail reported Wednesday that the Joe and Jill Biden Presidential Library Foundation held only $4 million, according to tax documents from 2024. That money was left over from Biden’s failed campaign during that year.

The foundation hopes to raise $11.3 million, but even reaching that target would leave the proposed library with a comparatively modest amount. Presidential libraries and centers associated with other recent presidents have carried dramatically larger projected or reported price tags.

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The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the Barack Obama Presidential Center came with a price tag of $1 billion. The Washington Examiner similarly estimated that a Donald Trump Presidential Library would cost $1 billion.

Against those figures, Biden’s available $4 million looks less like the beginning of a grand presidential tribute and more like pocket change. The fundraising target also suggests the proposed project remains far removed from anything approaching those other reported costs.

The money problem reflects a larger difficulty for Biden. Democratic donors who once supported him do not appear particularly eager to finance a lasting monument to his presidency, and some are openly dismissing the possibility that a genuine library will ever be constructed.

“No real library will ever be built,” one said. “Sadly, for him, that ship has sailed.”

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Donor John Morgan also made clear that Biden should not expect a contribution from him. Morgan tied his refusal to what he described as damage inflicted on Biden’s legacy by the decisions of people surrounding the former president.

“I can’t speak for other donors, only myself, but I will not be contributing to it,” Morgan concluded. “While I still have deep respect for the man I once knew, his legacy was tarnished by the decisions of those closest to him.”

Biden has expressed hope that the library could be located in his home state of Delaware. The Daily Mail identified Wilmington as a possible city for the project, with a riverfront location among the options under consideration.

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The University of Delaware could provide another potential location, but no final site has been established. Biden’s representatives did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for details about a specific location.

Records from Biden’s presidency are currently being stored at the National Archives in Maryland. Additional records from his time in the Senate are housed at the University of Delaware, giving the university an existing connection to his political papers.

The funding question could eventually reach Delaware taxpayers. The Daily Mail noted that the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955 prevents federal funding from being used for the project, but state funding remains legally available.

One plan indicated that between $48 million and $60 million in construction funding could be available. However, the office of the Mayor of Wilmington did not respond to a request for clarification about whether that amount was actually available for Biden’s library project.

That leaves the proposed library without a confirmed home, without the kind of money associated with comparable presidential projects, and without enthusiasm from at least some prominent Democratic donors. For Biden, the struggle to build a monument to his presidency is shaping up as one more humiliating chapter in a badly tarnished legacy.

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