Giving to the BU Foundation

The Binghamton University Foundation is the fundraising partner of Binghamton University. It is dedicated to managing and investing donations to develop excellence in teaching and research, create more high-impact learning experiences for Binghamton University students, enhance facilities, and provide support for the university's needs, initiatives, and programs. As part of its mission, the foundation educates about charitable giving and matches donors' philanthropic intentions with the university's fundraising priorities.

For example, one scholarship that donors have been helping to fund is the George Floyd Scholarship for Social Change. President Harvey Stenger established this scholarship during George Floyd's memorial service in June 2020 to award underrepresented and historically economically disadvantaged minorities. Students selected for the George Floyd Scholarship for Social Change receive $5,000 per year for a maximum of 3 years. In total, the foundation designated $1.5 million to establish this endowment. Five students have been awarded for the 2020-21 academic year.

Donors can also choose to focus their donations on the Binghamton Fund for Excellence, the Binghamton Fund for Opportunity Scholarships, a specific school or college, or other areas of campus. For instance, the Binghamton Fund for Excellence creates opportunities that help every student in the university. As an example, in 2020, this fund purchased the technology that students needed during the COVID-19 pandemic, helped provide emergency scholarships for those who had the greatest needs, and advanced meaningful student research.

The Binghamton Fund for Opportunity Scholarships helps the university recruit and preserve excellent students, regardless of their financial situations, by creating scholarships. In addition, each school and college dean has access to an account that they can use when they need flexible funds to react to challenges and opportunities quickly. Donors can support a specific school or college by donating directly to its fund. It is also possible to donate to areas such as the campus libraries, research and technology, graduate studies, the Anderson Center for the Performing Arts, and the Binghamton University Art Museum.

Those interested in giving to the Binghamton University Foundation can either visit binghamton.edu/foundation to donate online using their credit cards, or mail checks to the foundation's physical address. It is also possible to visit the Binghamton University Foundation's Gift and Donor Records office to make a cash gift; donate stocks and securities via electronic transfer, registered mail, or in person; or give the foundation an electronic funds transfer permission, which allows it to automatically withdraw a specific amount from the donor's checking account every month.

Other giving options include making a matching gift with your employer, gifting real estate or personal property, including a charitable donation in your financial and estate plans, or filling out a form for payroll deduction (in the case of those who are members of the faculty and staff at the university). In the fiscal year of 2019-2020, the Binghamton University Foundation raised a total of $54,279,418 in cash and $695,991 in deferred gifts, gifts in kind, and Research Foundation grants. The total amount, $54,975,409, was over three times larger than the gifts received in the fiscal year of 2018-2019, which was $15,209,399.