Wow, What A Generous Foundation!

Flashback: Just 5.7% of Clinton Foundation’s budget went to charity in 2014

February 20, 2018

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Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, have long been suspected of using their non-profit Clinton Foundation to do a lot more than just charity. From paying for Chelsea’s extravagant wedding to serving as a clearinghouse for pay-to-play scams, the rumors of Clinton Foundation shenanigans have been an open secret for years.

It’s worth remembering it from time to time though. Here’s a flashback: according to the Clinton Foundation’s 2014 tax filings, only 5.7% of their huge budget went to actual charity work; the rest went to just about anything but.

The Inconvenient Budgeting Truth

The filings show a so-called ‘charity’ that isn’t a charity at all, with less than $5.2 million going to charitable grants. The total budget of the Clinton Foundation, meanwhile, was over $91 million, begging the question, “Where did the rest of the money go?”

That answer is an uncomfortable one for the Clintons—or at least, it would be if they had anything regarding integrity. The Foundation paid out $34.8 million in salaries, compensation, and employee benefits.

Another $50.4 million was simply titled “other expenses,” with no explanation, and over $800,000 was marked as “professional fundraising expenses.”

Almost 8 million went to travel expenses, as the Clintons jet-setted around the world, and $6.6 million was spent on “rent and office supplies.”

Perhaps most interesting—or disturbing—was the revelation that charitable grants generally went to organizations that either were founded by the Foundation itself, or is managed by a Foundation board member.

In addition, as The Federalist points out, “the bulk of the charitable work lauded by the Clinton Foundation’s boosters — the distribution of drugs to impoverished people in developing countries — is no longer even performed by the Clinton Foundation.” That work was delegated to a completely separate charity in 2010—the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

Spending Everywhere But Charity

It’s not the first time that the Clinton Foundation—or its principals—have come under scrutiny for their spending.

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In 2012, top Clinton aide Doug Band wrote to Hillary campaign chair John Podesta about Chelsea Clinton’s extravagant spending—using the Foundation money as her personal wallet:

The investigation into her getting paid for campaigning, using foundation resources for her wedding and life for a decade, taxes on money from her parents…I hope that you will speak to her and end this[.] Once we go down this road….

The email was released by Wikileaks in 2016, and only underlined already burgeoning questions about how Clinton Foundation money was being used.

With Hillary’s failure in the 2016 elections, we can only hope that the Clinton Foundation has less money to waste in the future.

Thankfully, there’s evidence that donations are falling.