Washington Free Beacon: Under Biden, American Universities Raked In Nearly $1 Billion From Mystery Offshore Donors, Including Some Linked to China
February 11, 2025
American universities raked in nearly a billion dollars in the past four years from mystery donors in offshore tax havens, according to records reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. While the universities listed the unnamed donations as coming from places like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, the Free Beacon traced millions of dollars back to donors linked to China.
The news comes as the Trump administration prepares to crack down on foreign influence on college campuses, following years of Biden administration policies that have shielded the names of foreign university donors from the public.
Since 2021, U.S. universities reported receiving over $600 million from donors in Bermuda, $280 million from Guernsey, $25 million from the British Virgin Islands, $25 million from the Bahamas, $17.5 million from Cayman Islands, and $11 million from the island of Jersey, Department of Education records show. While universities are required to disclose those foreign donors to the federal government under Section 117, the Biden administration broke precedent with prior administrations by withholding the names of foreign donors to the public.
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The Pennsylvania records were obtained by watchdog group Americans for Public Trust and shared with the Free Beacon. The group’s director, Caitlin Sutherland, called for a federal foreign funding reporting system that includes donors’ names.
“The current system allows the individual sources of the foreign money to remain obscured from the public, which raises serious concerns when the donors hail from adversarial countries like China and Qatar,” said Sutherland. “The American public deserves to know exactly who is buying influence in our higher education system.”
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In addition to UPenn, state records show that Carnegie Mellon University received $100,000 through the Cayman Islands from the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute in August 2022. The donation does not appear to be listed in federal foreign donor records.
Tianqiao Chen, a billionaire and reported member of the Chinese Communist Party, sparked outcry from Republican lawmakers last year after reporting revealed him to be the second-largest foreign farmland owner in the United States.
Other university disclosures also raise questions about the true sources of donations from known tax havens.
In 2023, Yale reported receiving a $79 million donation from the island of Guernsey to fund an “institute to enhance the understanding of human cognition.” Yale’s Wu Tsai Institute, which focuses on the study of human cognition, is bankrolled by Joseph Tsai, the chairman of China’s Alibaba Group. Alibaba has extensive ties to the Chinese government, which owns stakes in a number of its business units.
Although state records aren’t available to confirm that Tsai is the donor—Connecticut does not publish such records—the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation is based in the island of Guernsey, according to corporate disclosures. Yale has reported receiving over $400 million from Guernsey since 2020.
