Alumni, friends and families donated over $9 million in fiscal year 2024 in support of student scholarships, campus resources and more.
Supporters Contribute $19.4 Million to RISD in Fiscal Year 2025
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More than 2,200 individual donors, as well as foundations and corporate partners, contributed $19.4 million in new gifts, grants, and pledges to support the college and the RISD Museum in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2025. This fundraising total represents a significant increase over the previous year’s total of $9.1 million.
“While we are mindful of the challenges facing higher education right now, we have seen donors really lean in to support priorities, especially those that improve student access and the student experience at RISD,” says Amanda Clark MacMullan, vice president of institutional advancement at RISD. “RISD’s approach to art and design education cultivates students who are capable of bold, self-directed creativity. In a world where it is increasingly possible to aggregate or repackage existing ideas, RISD students are able to originate. Our community sees how important and inspiring it is to support that.”
For Gerald Fandetti BArch 68/P 05 and Charlotte Forsythe 67 PT/P 05, an appreciation for the ability to confront a blank page and simply begin—something each developed at RISD—was part of what inspired them to give $1 million for scholarships for first-year Experimental and Foundation Studies students with financial need. Theirs was one of six major endowed gifts, totaling $11 million, made to RISD in 2025.
As permanently invested funds that provide an annual yield, endowment gifts support current needs while creating long-term financial stability that benefits future generations of students and museum goers. An anonymous gift of $1 million will build RISD’s organizational capacity as the institution approaches its 150th anniversary, joining previously reported gifts to the RISD endowment by Trustee Hillary Blumberg 92 FAV and Alex Ginsburg; support for scholarships and the Life After RISD initiative from Suzanne and Fabian Fondriest P 16, a trustee; an anonymous gift that strengthens teaching and learning in Industrial Design; and the establishment of the Frank Robinson Curatorship of Painting and Sculpture at the RISD Museum by Stephen and Ewa Metcalf.
A host of donors made gifts designated for immediate use, including $605,000 for student financial aid in 2025. RISD’s philanthropic community also came together in support of the RISD Fund, an unrestricted source of funding that supports financial aid, internships, travel and research opportunities, student wellness, campus life enhancements, and more. Together, 1,414 donors contributed $1,816,521 to the RISD Fund in 2025. The Museum Annual Fund, which supports the RISD Museum’s educational programming, mentoring, and training, public and community engagement, and more, saw 126 donors contribute $395,442.
Boosting both annual funds was RISD’s first-ever Giving Day on March 19, 2025. Alumni, families, friends, museum goers, community members, faculty, and staff contributed $208,654 through 459 individual gifts, including two generous anonymous challenge gifts. The Class of 1980 won a friendly competition among the 16 2025 reunion classes, with the greatest number of individual donors from that class participating in Giving Day by making annual fund gifts.
“We have seen growing levels of participation in the life of the college and museum among RISD’s community,” MacMullan says. “Whether it’s attending an event, joining an alumni club, offering to mentor students, or making a financial contribution, people keep stepping forward to show us that they cherish and value what RISD offers. They want to carry RISD values into the future.”
Among that group are the 10 new members of the Jesse + Helen Rowe Metcalf Society. Metcalf Society members make planned gifts to the college or museum. Some make bequest intentions, gifts that are directed to RISD via donors’ estates. In 2025, RISD’s donor community pledged $3,165,000 in bequests.
“The many ways our philanthropic community supports the college and museum affirms how valuable artists’ and designers’ ideas, perspectives, and innovations are to the wider world.”
Foundations and corporations made 18 grants to RISD in fiscal year 2025, totaling over $2.8 million in support of the college and museum. Among those were Mejuri, Inc., which supported undergraduate scholarships through the RISD Scholars Fund; and the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, which funded fellowships for MFA students in Painting and Sculpture. A robust group of foundations and partners, including the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Coby Foundation, and the Robert Lehman Foundation, made possible the exhibition Liz Collins: Motherlode, which is on view through January 11, 2026.
“RISD is an incredibly vibrant, dynamic community,” MacMullan says. “The many ways our philanthropic community supports the college and museum affirms how valuable artists’ and designers’ ideas, perspectives, and innovations are to the wider world.”
Find out more about Institutional Advancement and learn how to give to RISD.
Gillian Kiley / photos by Jo Sittenfeld MFA 08 PH and Thad Russell MFA 06 PH
September 11, 2025
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