What Happened to All the Clinton Foundation Money

The Clinton Presidential Middle in Little Stone is reflected in the pool out front end in this Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016, file photo. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette file photograph)

Contributions and grants to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation dropped by millions in 2020 to the lowest amount in at to the lowest degree a decade, according to Internal Revenue Service filings.

The IRS filings bear witness the Clinton Foundation took in $xvi.3 million terminal year in contributions and grants, a large downturn compared with $29.6 million from 2019. By comparison, the nonprofit took in $24.2 million in 2018, $26.six 1000000 in 2017 and $62.ix one thousand thousand in 2016.

[DOCUMENT: Read the Clinton Foundation'southward financial statements and auditor'southward study » arkansasonline.com/1121cfaudit/]

"While 2020 brought urgent needs to address from the pandemic and a deepened focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion; it likewise was a difficult year for philanthropy," Kevin Thurm, CEO of the Clinton Foundation, wrote in an open letter of the alphabet. "Across the sector, resources were stretched thinly and fundraising activities were impacted." The foundation operates the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, but is too involved in an array of efforts on topics like economic evolution, education and climatic change.

The nonprofit last year had offices in Little Rock, New York City, Malawi, Tanzania and Rwanda, a spokesman said.

The organization's avails are strong, and the nonprofit nevertheless holds a "very large" endowment, said Leslie Lenkowsky, a professor emeritus at Indiana Academy who studies philanthropy. But, he noted, contributions and grants continue to tendency downwardly in general for the nonprofit.

"This has been underway for a while. I remember it largely reflects the fact that the Clintons are less prominent these days and their ability to raise funds has been affected past that," he said.

The Clinton Foundation, he said, can be loosely characterized as a "glory foundation," where a lot of the organization's draw is generated by the fame of the people involved.

[Document: Read the Clinton Foundation's filing with the IRS for the 2020 tax yr » arkansasonline.com/1121cf990/]

"Athletes accept them. Pic stars have them. Other politicians have them. And then you'd expect to run across a precipitous turn down equally the glory factor starts to wane," Lenkowsky said.

Total charitable giving rose by 3.8% last year when adjusted for aggrandizement, according to a report published by the Giving United states of america Foundation that looks at giving to charitable organizations nationwide. Increases in contributions went to education, human services and "public-guild benefit organizations," among other areas.

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Laura MacDonald, chairwoman of Giving United states Foundation, has described last twelvemonth as the highest twelvemonth on record for charitable giving, even with the coronavirus pandemic. Withal, she has besides characterized the state's economical landscape as mixed.

"It is important to recognize that the picture for private households and organizations may have looked quite different, with many facing hardship even though total giving posted strong growth," she said in a statement earlier this yr.

At the Clinton Foundation, expenses and revenue were both downwardly compared with 2019. The foundation reported $29 one thousand thousand in full revenue and $39.five million in expenses for last year, listing a shortfall of about $10.6 million.

Thurm, the foundation'due south CEO, wrote in the letter that the nonprofit's work last year had been "fully funded" through donations and returns from the endowment.

The foundation congenital an endowment and then that its programs could continue and to ensure the arrangement's long-term fiscal health, a spokesman said.

The national increment in charitable giving did not appear to rub off on the Clinton Foundation. The wealthy donated funds more locally during the pandemic, said Nicole Esparza, a professor of nonprofit leadership and philanthropy at the University of Southern California.

"It's strategic giving," she said.

One study institute that the wide bulk of affluent households maintained or increased their giving. Of the affluent households that donated to organizations providing bones needs, more a tertiary increased their spending to those entities in 2020 every bit the nation grappled with the pandemic, according to enquiry from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

"In some ways, 2020 is a story of uneven affect and uneven recovery," said Amir Pasic, dean of the school, in a argument before this year. "Many wealthier households were more than insulated from the effects of covid-xix and the ensuing economical shock." The foundation's internet assets rose from $312.8 million at the beginning of 2020 to $323.4 million at the end of the year, according to the IRS filings. The total internet nugget effigy includes the foundation's endowment and liabilities held by the organization.

The filings did prove growth in the nonprofit's endowment. The foundation'southward endowment had a 2020 stop-of-year residual of $235.1 million, an increment compared with the $217 1000000 effigy for that time in 2019.

The nonprofit besides dramatically increased the amount of grant money information technology doled out, giving $iv.two million compared with $1.eight million in 2019.

The Clinton Presidential Center pulled in more than $400,000 final twelvemonth, according to the filings, which say center expenses came in at $xi.8 million, including $1.2 meg in grants.

In the showtime, the nonprofit was focused on raising money to construct the presidential center. The organization'south mission later broadened to include topics like childhood evolution and international economic development.

With the coronavirus pandemic, the nonprofit shifted its piece of work and focused on addressing inequities made worse by the public health crisis, Thurm wrote.

"These new and expanded efforts were disquisitional in a year defined past the pandemic," Thurm wrote.

The nonprofit coordinated with others on a feeding program that gave out more 700,000 meals. The presidential center served as a backdrop for the effort with food being prepared in facility kitchens and meals being packaged in the great hall ballroom.

"Last yr, as the pandemic forced the Clinton Center to suspend most of our in-person operations, we redirected our staff and our resources to encounter the nearly pressing needs in our community," said Stephanie Streett, executive director of the foundation.

Information for this article was contributed past Frank E. Lockwood of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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Source: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/nov/21/clinton-foundation-sees-2020-dive-in-gifts-grants/

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