Q: What is the purpose of the Clinton Foundation and what percentage of the donations go to charity? Who contributes and what is the average amount contributed? Why is the foundation headquartered in Canada? How many executives are there and how much are they paid? When was it founded?
—Peggy Ward, Gainesville
A: The Clinton Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1997, builds "partnerships between businesses, (non-governmental organizations), governments and individuals" to solve social issues, it states at clintonfoundation.org.
Anyone can give and the contributions vary in amounts and frequency. You can give one time or make monthly contributions.
International governments have contributed to the foundation.
About 88 percent of the Clinton Foundation’s cash budget went to charity in 2014, Charity Watch (charitywatch.org) reported earlier this year. The foundation also spent 8.6 percent on management and general expenses and 3.7 percent on fundraising in 2014, it states.
“The money raised by the Foundation is spent directly on our programs, and not as grants to other charitable organizations,” the foundation states.
The foundation’s offices are in New York and Little Rock, Ark.
The most highly compensated executives, according to 2014 tax documents, included former CEO Eric Braverman, who made $532,361 that year.
Chairman Bruce Lindsey ($395,460), CFO Andrew Kessel ($221,608), executive director/secretary Stephanie Streett ($182,489), CEO/Clinton Global Initiative Robert Harrison ($245,713), chief development officer Dennis Cheng ($269,465), executive director Maura Pally ($283,665), CEO/Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership Mark Gunton ($313,992), COO/CGEP Scott Taitel ($226,662) and foreign policy director Amitabh Desai ($232,734) were among the executives included on the document.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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