- Trump’s inauguration has raised a record $170 million, but events are at capacity, which means some who donated more than $1 million have been placed on wait lists. Others, meanwhile, are donating millions without expecting anything in return, like access to the swearing-in ceremony or private dinners.
The second inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump is a hot-ticket item—so hot, in fact, that his inaugural committee has reportedly halted ticket sales for major donors.
Five sources told the New York Times that Trump’s inauguration committee has officially raised over $170 million, and is on pace to hit the $200 million mark. That’s significantly more than Trump’s haul in 2017, when his inauguration committee raised $107 million. But the weekend festivities for 2025, including his swearing-in ceremony and private events, are at capacity. Apparently, this means some people who donated more than $1 million have been placed on wait lists, or may not receive VIP tickets at all.
As the Times notes, some people behind million-dollar donations are offering their money while expecting nothing in return: no seats at the inauguration and no private-event access. This is unusual because people and companies typically donate to inaugurations to lobby the incoming administration in hopes of gaining some influence. The inauguration committee had reportedly planned to give people who donated more than $1 million access to six events, including the swearing-in ceremony and a “candlelight dinner” with Donald and Melania Trump, as well as a dinner with Vice President–elect JD Vance and his wife, Usha.
Trump’s inaugural committee did not immediately respond to Coins2Day’s request for comment.
According to the Times and Associated Press, fundraisers for the inauguration deactivated donation links and shuttered packages being offered to corporate and individual donors, informing prospective donors no more seats would be available for certain events around the capital that weekend. But Danielle Alvarez, a spokesperson for the inauguration committee, told the Times it’s still accepting donations nonetheless.
“Anyone interested in making a contribution to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee is encouraged to do so,” Alvarez said.
Many notable names and companies have donated to Trump’s inauguration. Meta and Amazon have each donated $1 million to the event, while Goldman Sachs and Bank of America have donated undisclosed amounts. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin have also made personal donations of $1 million each.
There are no hard limits on donations made to inaugural committees. As the Times notes, any funds not used for the inauguration will likely be transferred to a committee that will handle Trump’s presidential library.
On the whole, Trump has raised more than $200 million since Election Day.
