the clinton foundation: substance or style? by deborah corey barnes and matthew vadum (foundation...

7/31/2019 The Clinton Foundation: Substance or Style? by Deborah Corey Barnes and Matthew Vadum (Foundation Watch, F

1/9

Summary: Bill Clinton is masterminding his

charitable foundations fundraising cam-paign at the same time that he advises his

wifes presidential campaign. Might that

create some conflicts of interest? At the veryleast, linking nonprofit fundraising to po-

litical proximity is sure to generate lots of

philanthropic cloutbut to what end? BillClinton promises to disclose the names of

donors to the William J. Clinton Founda-

tion when his wife becomes president. Howreassuring.

The Clinton Foundation:

Substance or Style?

February 2008

The Clinton Foundation

Page 1

CONTENTS

Philanthropy NotesPage 8

By Deborah Corey Barnes and Matthew Vadum

Bill Clinton parties like a rock star. The former president joined comedian Chris Rock(center), singers Shakira (second from right) and U2s Bono (right) on stage at Harlems

Apollo Theater last fall to announce a youth summit planned for later this year.

Since leaving the White House in 2001,

Bill Clinton has used philanthropy to

stay in the public eye. His star power

attracts widespread public attention and

major donor contributions to the William J.

Clinton Foundation, which supports his presi-

dential library and funds many worthy chari-

ties. Drawing the very wealthy and the politi-

cally ambitious into his orbit, like moths to a

flame, Clinton hopes to promote public poli-

cies he considers vital for America and the

worldand his own new career as a philan-

thropic rainmaker. And should Senator Hillary

Rodham Clinton become president, she will

further boost the prospects of the Clinton

Foundation. Bill Clintons focus on humani-

tarian issues, observes ABC News, is in

many ways the perfect balance to his wifes

political ambitions and also repairs the

damage done to his reputation by the Monica

Lewinsky scandal during his presidency,

helping to transform the former presidents

legacy into one of an elder statesman dedi-

cated to global issues. (Bill Clintons Hu-

manitarian Focus, September 25, 2007, http:/

/ a b c n e w s . g o . c o m / P o l i t i c s /

story?id=3652576)

Clinton is raising money to end poverty and

create economic opportunity in poor coun-

tries. He wants to create awareness of threats

to public health, whether from HIV/AIDS

overseas or sugary soft drinks in local el-

ementary schools. He has joined his former

vice president, Al Gore, in the fight against

global warming. Days after the 2004 Indian

Ocean tsunami, Clinton and former President

George H.W. Bush were everywhere on tele-

vision, reassuring the world that philanthropywould provide relief. When Hurricane Katrina

devastated the Gulf Coast eight months later,

Clinton and Bush Sr. again jumped into the

spotlight to cheerlead for private giving to

Natures victims.

Out of office, Clinton remains a faithful

liberal who continues to believe in the bless-

ings of government assistance. But he says

he has discovered that personal philanthropy

can also do wonders: I felt obligated to do

it [giving] because of the wonderful, improb

able life Id been given by the American

people and because politics, which con

sumed so much of my life, is a getting

business. You have to get...votes, over and

over again, Clinton writes in his 240-page

book, Giving, which became a bestselle

when it went on sale last September.


2/9

FoundationWatch

2 February 2008

Editor: Matthew Vadum

Publisher: Terrence Scanlon

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Unfortunately, Clintons idea of giving in-

cludes supporting advocacy organizations

that promote more government spending. In

his book, Clinton explains how lobbying cam-

paigns can push lawmakers to increase gov-

ernment healthcare spending. He urges his

readers to contact the group Families USA,whose executive director, Ron Pollack, coor-

dinated lobbying by outside groups in sup-

port of the Clinton administrations failed

healthcare proposals. If readers are aged 50

or over, Clinton urges them to join AARP. He

commends the work of the Center for Ameri-

can Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank

headed by his former White House chief of

staff, John Podesta, and notes that CAP

created the Better Health Care Together

coalition, an unlikely alliance of labor unions

(the Communications Workers of America

and the Service Employees InternationalUnionSEIU) and corporations (Wal-

MartSEIUs arch-enemyAT&T, Intel,

and Kelly Services) that are eager to push

employee healthcare costs onto the taxpay-

ers. (For more information, see HillaryCare

Again: Families USA, SEIU, Big Business

Push for Socialized Medicine, by David

Hogberg, Organization Trends, June 2007.)

While Clinton lauds private citizens for

giving to their places of worship and local

charities, he says its not enough. Big Gov-

ernment remains the solution: Many of theproblems that bedevil both rich and poor

nations in the modern world cannot be ad-

equately addressed without more enlight-

ened government policies, more competent

and honest public administration, and more

investment of tax dollars.

Public interest in what Bill Clinton has to

say is sustaining the markets demand for his

speeches. Touring the world giving talks and

wagging his famous finger has made him a

wealthy man. Clinton gets six-figure fees for

his paid speaking engagements, earning him

some $31 million from 2001 through 2005.

The Clinton Foundation

The William J. Clinton Foundation states

that its mission is to strengthen the capacity

of people throughout the world to meet the

challenges of global interdependence. It

focuses on four critical areas: health se-

curity; economic empowerment; leadership

development and citizen service; and racial,

ethnic and religious reconciliation. The foun-

dation also runs the Clinton Presidentia

Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, which in

cludes the Clinton Presidential Library and

Museum and the Clinton School of Public

Service.

The legal and financial relationships andresponsibilities among these entities are com-

plex: Like other presidential libraries, the

Clinton Library is administered and funded

by the National Archives. The Clinton Schoo

is a branch of the University of Arkansas

However, $165 million in privately-raised

contributions funded construction costs fo

the Presidential Centerthe library, museum

school and foundation offices which was

dedicated in November 2004.

Direct contributions are the source of al-

most all the foundations revenue, and theyhave risen rapidly each year. According to its

Form 990 tax returns, the foundation took in

a total of $49.5 million from 1998 to 2002. Bu

in 2006 the yearly take was $135.8 million. As

of December 31, 2006, the total amount con

tributed to the foundation since 1998 was

over $367 million. Its net assets are $208.3

million.

Where does the money go? While the foun

dation paid the $165 million in construction

costs for the library complex, it is now setting

its sights on projects far beyond the LittleRock campus. The foundation reported

$91.9 million in expenses in 2006 and $85.5

million of that was reported as spending on

program services (with the remainder go

ing to management and fundraising). In 2006

much of the foundations program consisted

of grant-making, and most of that went to

disaster relief. The foundation handed out

$31.3 million in grants, of which $30.1 million

went to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to

help victims of the 2005 hurricane. Othe

grant recipients included ACORN, the radi

cal poverty group that originated in Arkan

sas. It received $250,000 to help Katrina vic

tims apply for the federal earned income tax

credit. The City College of New York received

$49,114 for a program on ethnic reconcilia

tion and $192,200 went to the University o

Virginias Miller Center for an oral history

project on the Clinton presidency.

However, the Clinton Foundations future

projects are even more ambitious (which may

explain why the foundation spent over $16


3/93February 2008

FoundationWatch

million on consulting fees). The foundation

has established a series of international ini-

tiatives intended to tackle a variety of world

problems. These initiatives do not directly

fund overseas programs. Instead, they team

up (partner) needy nonprofits and govern-

ment agency officials around the world withwealthy donors looking for projects to assist.

Perhaps even more importantly, the Clinton

Foundation links up wealthy donors to one

another. This is a rather novel concept of

what a foundation is for: Grantors are

incentivized to do good deeds because they

get to bask in the approval of Bill Clinton.

The foundation-as-networker for the good

and the great is a new institutional form. But

with living tycoons like Bill Gates assuming

the role of philanthropist to solve global

health problems and Clintons own vice presi-dent dedicated to saving the planets envi-

ronment, it is hardly conceivable that Bill

Clinton would settle for less. Here are the

principal Clinton Foundation initiatives:

*Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative

(CHAI) aims to increase the availability of

AIDS care and treatment for the needy by

lowering the cost of treatment, providing

strategic and targeted technical assistance

where it is most needed. The foundations

first organized undertaking, CHAI serves

as the model for the foundations signaturestyle of linking donors to grantees. Widely

praised for making effective use of Bill

Clintons celebrity and contacts, the Initia-

tive has successfully brokered price cuts

by generic drug producers of AIDS drugs,

organizing what is in effect a buying coop-

erative of more than 70 poor countries

desperate to help those living with HIV/

AIDS. CHAIs management consultants

are providing ill-equipped countries with

the business strategies to create a more

efficient healthcare market for HIV/AIDS

treatment and education. Ironically, the

chairman of CHAIs policy board is Ira

Magaziner, who received poor notices in

the 1990s when he was the organizer of

Hillary Clintons health care task force.

*Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) was incor-

porated in 2005 as a separate 501(c)(3)

nonprofit. A self-described catalyst for

action, it hosts yearly Clinton Global Sum-

mits that bring together left-leaning think-

ers and activists with wealthy

businesspeople and politicians to meet and

mingle and ruminate on the worlds prob-

lems. The Summits goal is to have wealthy

CGI attendees partner with the leaders of

aid and development groups by making

financial pledges to their programs. During

its last three meetings (2005-2007) CGI has

announced 600 pledges of over $10 billion,

including $3 billion to tackle global warm-

ing from British business mogul Sir RichardBranson. And woe unto those who fail to

keep their pledges: They are not invited

back to the following years Summit.

*Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI). Created

in 2006, it is yet another promoter of part-

nerships among heads of business, gov-

ernment and politics. CGIs initial partner is

the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership

Group, an association of city officials orga-

nized by London mayor Ken (a.k.a. Red

Ken) Livingston. Representing some 40

of the worlds largest cities (Addis Ababa,

Beijing, Cairo, London, Lagos, etc.) the

group is committed to making cities more

environmentally friendly by securing vari-

ous city commitments to adapt their traffic

signals, water systems and waste dumps to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Clintons program has persuaded five

banks to provide $1 billion in financing for

these projects. In November CCI an-

nounced another partnership with 1,100

U.S. mayors. It aims to partner the mayors

with 25 manufacturers and the retailer Ar

kansas-based Wal-Mart to increase public

access to low-cost green technologies.

*Alliance for a Healthier Generationfights

childhood obesity. Its a partnership be

tween the Clinton Foundation and the

American Heart Associationco-chaired

by California Governor Arnold

Schwarzenegger.

*Clinton Hunter Development Initiative

(CHDI) to encourage sustainable eco

nomic growth in Africa is a Clinton Foun

dation partnership with the Hunter Foun

dation. CHDI has a 10-year operating bud

get of $100 million, pledged by Sir Tom

Hunter, the richest man in Scotland.

*Urban Enterprise Initiative (UEI) helps

inner-city small business owners and en

trepreneurs. It claims to have provided

65,000 hours of technical assistance (worth

more than $14 million) to New York City

entrepreneurs.

*Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Ini

tiative (CGSGI) is the latest foundation

partnership, created in 2007. Pledge money

comes from three principal sources: Lundin

for Africa, the philanthropic arm o

Vancouver, Canadas Lundin Group o

Companies ($100 million), Mexican busi

nessman Carlos Slim, the third richest man

Hillary Rodham Clinton (left) and retired General Wesley Clark (right), who endorsed theNew York senator's presidential bid last year, appeared together at the Clinton GlobaSummit in 2005.


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FoundationWatch

4 February 2008

in the world according toForbes magazine

($100 million), and Canadian mining finan-

cier Frank Giustra ($100 million). In a sepa-

rate gift, Giustra gave the Clinton Founda-

tion $31.3 million in 2006 through his

Radcliffe Foundation.

Clinton Library Donations:

Secrecy or Disclosure?

Federal law does not require nonprofit chari-

ties to disclose the identities of their con-

tributors, and that applies to presidential

foundations. Typically these foundations

support the unique entity known as the presi-

dential library. Presidential libraries have two

parts: The librarys document collections are

maintained by the National Archives and are

open to all researchers of whatever political

persuasion. But most tourists visit the

librarys exhibition halls, conference centerand museum store which are administered by

the presidential foundation. They invariably

glorify their particular president. Costs are

divided. The National Archives pays to main-

tain the collection of documents and library

salaries, while donors, including corpora-

tions and foreign governments, may give

unlimited amounts of moneyeven while a

president is in officeto the presidential

library foundation.

When it opened in 1997, the George (H.W.)

Bush Presidential Library voluntarily dis-closed the names of donors who gave

amounts over $10,000. Only a few names were

withheld at the request of individual donors.

So when the drawing boards called for the

Clinton Presidential Library to feature a wall

naming its major donors, the move was ap-

plauded as an effort to bring greater transpar-

ency to the $165 million project.

The wall was never built. Last September

Bill Clinton said his foundation doesnt need

to disclose its current and past donor ident i-ties because, in his words, A lot of people

gave me money with the understanding that

they could give anonymously.

But how anonymous is anonymous?

ABCNews.com has reported that a partial list

of donors was sold to infoUSA, a direct

marketing data company founded by major

Clinton donor Vin Gupta. From June 2006 to

May 2007 the company offered to sell a list of

more than 38,000 Clinton presidential library

donors to foundations and other

nonprofits. Perhaps it all depends on the

meaning of the word anonymous. (Clinton

Library Sells Secret Donor List, November

19, 2007, available at http://

blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/11/

clinton-library.html) Under pressure, Clinton

now promises to make public the names of all

future donors to his foundation if his wife is

elected to the White House.

Sheila Krumholz of the nonpartisan Center

for Responsive Politics, which tracks the

influence of money in politics, rejects this

reasoning. The fact that theyve sold the list

and then turned around and said that these

names must be kept anonymous completely

undercuts their argument, she said. Libera

commentator Matthew Yglesias also believes

the Clintons should make public the names o

foundation donors to avoid any appearance

of impropriety. The voters ought to havethis information before the election, when it

could still make a differenceWe really ough

to find out who his donors are before the

nomination is settled, Yglesias wrote in an

October 4 Los Angeles Times op-ed. Be

cause its presumed that big-dollar donors to

the Clinton Foundation are gaining access to

and some measure of influence with the

foundations top dog, is it such a stretch to

think that might extend to his White House

seeking wife as well?

Asked to comment on the Foundationspolicy at a presidential debate in September

Senator Clinton punted. Well, youll have to

ask them, she said, referring to Bill Clinton

and his staff. In fact, the New York Times

reported December 20 that the foundations

first chief of staff, Karen Tramontano, has

said Mrs. Clinton was deeply involved in

deciding the foundations organization and

scope of work: She had a lot of ideas. All the

papers that went to him went to her.

Whos on the donor list? Billionaires, Saud

royalty, Arab businessmen, the king of Mo

rocco, the governments of Dubai, Kuwait,

Qatar, Brunei, and Taiwan, and lots of Holly

wood celebrities have donated to the Clinton

Foundation. In 2004, the New York Sun

Former DNC chairman Terry

McAuliffe, who raises money for boththe Clinton Foundation and HillaryClintons presidential campaign, is

shown here with the Clintons in 1999.

Hollywood couple Angelina Jolie (left) and Brad Pitt (right)attended last years Clinton Global Summit.


5/95February 2008

FoundationWatch

reported on 57 donors who appear to have

each given $1 million or more. The big donors

included infoUSAs Vin Gupta, former Mattel

Inc. chairman Bill Rollnick, Black Entertain-

ment Television (BET) founder Robert L.

Johnson (who is an outspoken supporter of

Mrs. Clintons presidential candidacy), Hol-lywood director-producer Steven Spielberg

and his actress wife Kate Capshaw, movie

producer and Kerry 527 funder Stephen Bing,

insurance magnate and Soros friend Peter B.

Lewis, Gateway, Inc. co-founder Ted Waitt,

shopping center developers Bren and Melvin

Simon, and the Soros Foundation, which is

the European arm of George Soross Open

Society Institute. Denise Rich, ex-wife of

Marc Rich, the fugitive whom Clinton granted

a pardon hours before leaving office, gave

the foundation $450,000. (Saudis, Arabs

Funneled Millions to President Clintons Li-brary, New York Sun, November 22, 2004,

available at http://www.nysun.com/article/

5137)

Clinton Foundation donors Peter Lewis,

Bren Simon, and George Soros are also mem-

bers of the Democracy Alliance, the non-

profit that would create a permanent political

infrastructure of nonprofits, think tanks,

media outlets, leadership schools, and activ-

ist groupsa kind of vast left-wing con-

spiracy to compete with the conservative

movement. Day-to-day operations of the

Alliance are run by Kelly Craighead, a close

personal friend and former senior aide to

Hillary Clinton. (For more information on the

Democracy Alliance, see Billionaires for Big

Government: Whats Next for George Soross

Democracy Alliance? by Matthew Vadum

and James Dellinger, Foundation Watch,

January 2008.)

The New York Times also revealed that in

the closing years of the Clinton administra-

tion at least 97 donors donated or pledged atotal of $69 million for the library. Although

some of the $1 million donors were

longstanding friends of the Clintons, others

were pushing the Clinton administration for

policy changes. Two donors pledged $1 mil-

lion each while they or their companies were

undergoing Justice Department probes. (In

Charity and Politics, Clinton Donors Over-

lap, New York Times, December 20, 2007,

available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/

12/20/us/politics/20clinton.html)

A Nonpartisan Foundation?

The William J. Clinton Foundation pro-

claims that it is nonpartisan and denies coor-

dinating its activities with Hillary Clintons

presidential campaign. But considering its

extensive ties to Democratic Party fundraisers

and placeholders its hard to believe the

foundation isnt at the very least marketing

the Clinton Foundation to Hillary-for-Presi-dent supporters. And those supporters may

want something more than a discount at the

Clinton Library gift shop.

The legendary money-man Terry

McAuliffe, a close personal friend of the

Clintons, is on the Clinton Foundations

board of directors and is one of its top fund

raisers. McAuliffe, who used to head the

Democratic National Committee (DNC), isalso managing Senator Clintons presiden

tial campaign and is its chief fundraiser. Othe

major donors to the Clinton Foundation who

are among Hillary Clintons top fundraisers

include DNC finance director Philip Murphy

and New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, the

former chairman of Goldman Sachs and

heavy-hitter in Democratic fundraising circles

who was chairman of the Democratic Senato

rial Campaign Committee (DSCC) from 2003

to 2005.

Then theres the Clinton Foundations

chief executive officer, Bruce Lindsey, for

merly a senior advisor in the Clinton White

House known for doggedly defending the

president during the Whitewater and Monica

Lewinsky scandals. The foundation paid him

a salary of $254,000 in 2006. In November

after critics suggested Clinton was suppress

ing presidential documents to protect his

wife, Lindsey said the former president has

not blocked the release of a single docu

ment. But the New York Sun reported on

Although donations to the Clinton Foundation are supposedly anonymous, infoUSA, thecompany founded by major Clinton donor Vin Gupta (right), purchased a list of donors

to the Clinton presidential library.

Bruce Lindsey, consigliere in BillClintons White House, now runs the

Clinton Foundation.


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FoundationWatch

6 February 2008

December 19 that the National Archives,

which administers presidential libraries, is

withholding about 2,600 pages of records at

Bill Clintons request.

Another Clinton Foundation board mem-ber is lawyer Cheryl Mills. She also happens

to be general counsel for Mrs. Clintonscampaign and previously served as deputy

White House counsel in the Clinton admin-

istration, where she defended President

Clinton during his 1999 Senate impeachmenttrial.

Lastly, there is the well-connected Wash-

ington, D.C.-based fundraising and communi-cations firm, OBrien McConnell Pearson

(OMP). It does work both for the foundation

and Hillary Clintons presidential campaign.

OMPs other clients include the League ofConservation Voters, Southern Poverty Law

Center, America Votes, ACLU, NAACP,

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC),Planned Parenthood Federation of America,

Democratic Congressional Campaign Com-

mittee (DCCC), Democratic National Commit-

tee, and Friends of Harry Reid.

The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) is stud-

ded with partisans who are sure to gain

influence should Hillary Clinton win theWhite House. While its press releases pro-

claim CGIs Global Summit a nonpartisanevent with an emphasis on results, its agenda

is prepared by committed advocates who areveterans of Washingtons trench warfare

over public policy.

CGIs Energy Working Group is chaired by

Brookings Institution scholar David

Sandalow, a senior environmental official in

the Clinton administration who was also ex-ecutive vice president at the World Wildlife

Fund. The working groups advisory board

includes Frances Beinecke, president of the

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC);Clinton-era EPA Administrator Carol Browner

(shes also on the board of Al Gores Alliance

for Climate Protection and John Podestas

Center for American Progress); EileenClaussen, president of the Pew Center on

Global Climate Change; Fred Krupp, presi-

dent of Environmental Defense; and SunMicrosystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, a

venture capitalist heavily invested in ethanol

and an outspoken backer of Californias failed

Proposition 87, which would have imposedtaxes on the states oil producers.

CGIs other working groups are chaired by

senior fellows at the Center for AmericanProgress who previously served in the Clinton

administration. Gene Sperling chairs the edu-

cation working group. He was Clintons na-

tional economic advisor and is the author ofThe Pro-Growth Progressive: An Economic

Strategy for Shared Prosperity (Simon &

Schuster, 2005). Gayle Smith chairs the work-

ing group on poverty alleviation. She servedin the Clinton National Security Council and

the U.S. Agency for International Develop-

ment (USAID). Thomas Kalil chairs the glo-

bal health group. He was deputy director of

the White House National Economic Coun-cil. (For more information on CAP, see The

Center for American Progress: Think Tank

On Steroids, by John Gizzi, Organization

Trends, May 2007.)

The Clinton Global Summit

On September 26, 2007 Bill Clinton openedthe third annual Global Summit of his

foundations Clinton Global Initiative. Forthree days the Summits 1,300 invited guestsgathered at events in the Sheraton hotel,

Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New YorkCity to discuss the state of the world. They

pledged themselvesand their moneytosolve the worlds problems. Bill Clinton

rounded up numerous attendees from thecorporate world, including Wal-Mart CEO

Lee Scott, PepsiCos Indra Nooyi, Duke En-ergy chairman Jim Rogers and now-deposed

Starbucks CEO Jim Donald. Carnegie Corpo-ration president Vartan Gregorian was there

as were NoVo Foundation chairman PeterBuffett (Warrens son), former vice president

Al Gore, U.N. climate change envoy GroHarlem Brundtland, Archbishop DesmondTutu and Rev. Jim Ball, president of the

Evangelical Environmental Network and originator of the What Would Jesus Drive?

campaign. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie turnedheads. Britains Tony Blair, Afghan presi-

dent Hamid Karzai and 50 other current oformer heads of state greeted one another

Media magnate Rupert Murdoch and formeSenate Majority Leader Bill Frist also ac

cepted Clintons invitation. Cost to attendthe Summit: $15,000 per person.

A Major Underwriter for the Summit was

Rochester, New York businessman TomGolisano, billionaire founder of Paychex, the

payroll processing corporation. An alternative energy booster, Golisano supports electricity-producing wind farms and has started

a company, Empire State Wind Energy LLCto show New York municipalities how they

can structure deals to extract more revenue

from commercial wind development. Golisanofulfilled his CGI pledge Commitment to Action by promising $10 million to the Roches

ter Institute of Technology to create sustainability institute.

Of course much of the talk at the Summit

was about global health, poverty, childrenand education. But global warming was

major topic on everyones lips. I see NewOrleans as a microcosm for the global problem, said Brad Pitt. If theres anyone who

understands the repercussions of climate

change its the people of the Gulf Coast.Said philanthropist Ted Turner: Outside oa nuclear exchange, global warming is the

greatest threat humanity has ever faced.

Bill Clinton called for the rapid expansion ocarbon markets to create price incentives to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This position finds favor with anyone who can profit

from it. For instance, Summit participant JimRogers, chairman of Duke Energy, which

generates electricity from clean coal andnuclear power, announced that his

companys Commitment to Action wouldconsist of working to overcome regulatorybarriers that may discourage utility invest

ment in energy efficiency today. He called itthe Save a Watt program. Environmenta

groups cynically suggested that might be aeuphemism for lobbying politicians to le

Duke Power raise its rates and win publicsubsidies for nuclear plant construction. (Fo

more on the politics of carbon markets seeAl Gores Carbon Crusade: The Money and

Connections Behind It, by Deborah CoreyBarnes, Foundation Watch, August 2007.)

Paychex founder and Buffalo Sabresowner Tom Golisano is deeply in-

volved in the Clinton Global Initative.


7/97February 2008

FoundationWatch

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Some other CGI Commitments to Actionappear similarly self-serving, giving partici-

pants credit for what benefits them and whatthey may do anyway. For example, the Ber-

muda-based company Infinity Bio-Energygives itself an eight-year commitment to pro-

duce ethanol from Brazilian sugar cane. It willinvest $192 million in sugar mills and ethanol

distilleries. The Merck pharmaceutical com-pany pledges to donate three million doses of

its controversial Gardasil cervical cancervaccine to poor countries that join its Gardasil

Access Program. As for lifestyle empressMartha Stewart, she pledges to bring atten-

tion to the fact that we are ill-prepared to carefor our aging population. Based upon theexperience Ive had with my own mother,

which was difficult and time-consuming,Stewart proposes to work with Mt. Sinai

hospital physicians to identify caregiving

experts, develop a caregiving handbook, andcreate a caregiving curriculum for medicalstudents to learn how to help family caregivers

(like Stewart?). The estimated total value ofher commitment is listed as $2 million.

When contacted by Foundation Watch,

CGI Director of Development ScottMcDonald refused to explain what the re-

quirements are for being a donor for the CGISummit. Whilst we do have levels of spon-sorship the ultimate outcome of a sponsors

tailored engagement with CGI is the result of

a dialogue, he said in an e-mail.

In his book, Bill Clinton reports that the first

CGI summit in 2005 led to more than $2.5billion in pledges, while the second in 2006

secured pledges of more than $7 billion.

Bill Clinton and GivingMany CGI pledges are definitely charitable

and appear very worthwhile, notably thoseto the poorest countries in Africa. Clinton

reports that after the 2006 CGI Summit BlackEntertainment Televisions Robert Johnson

donated $30 million to the Liberia EnterpriseDevelopment Fund (LEDF) to support in-vestments and technical assistance to job-

creating entrepreneurs in that strife-torn coun-try. The Sterling Stamos investment firm gave

$250,000 to the CGI Rwanda Partners in Healthafter founder Chris Stamos joined Clinton on

a trip to the country whose genocidal civilwar occurred during Clintons presidency.

Shorebank of Chicago is developing a strat-egy to lift the per capita income of Rwanda

and Malawi. When these donors combinemoney with management expertise, they can

Please remember

Capital Research Center

in your will and estate

planning.

Thank you for your

support.

Terrence Scanlon,

President

make a difference, creating new markets thatsupply goods and services to meet a poten-

tial demand. Such philanthropy can producelong term social progress and immediate help

to the needy.

But the Clinton Global Initiativeand BillClintons notion of givingalso accentu-

ates style over substance. By promotingsocial networking among the very wealthy,

who are encouraged to find a project theywant to help, the Clinton initiatives depend

on the donors yearning for recognition, es-teem and fame. That can lead to little more

than high class socializing and publicity-seeking. It can also produce occasions forhidden but profitable deal-making and influ-

ence-buying, which is what concerns criticsof the Clinton Foundations policy of not

disclosing donor names.

Critics of Bill Clintons book, Giving: HowEach of Us Can Change the World(Knopf,

September 2007) which ranked #1 on the NewYork Times bestseller list shortly before the

Summit opened, note that it is litt le more thana laundry list of good deeds by wealthy

Friends of Bill. It offers little practical adviceto donors, makes no attempt to prioritize

needs, and does not consider the ways phi-lanthropy can fail to achieve its objectives.Its feel-good message captures the essence

of the former presidents public personality

while obscuring the calculations that havemade his ownand his wifespolitica

careers so successful.

Deborah Corey Barnes is a freelance writer

and blogger for the Polireport in Washing

ton, D.C.Matthew Vadum is Editor ofFoundation Watch.


8/9

FoundationWatch

8 February 2008

PhilanthropyNotesThe chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said last month that all charitiesshould be compelled to inform donors how much of their contribution would be used for programs related to the

groups mission, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. We ought to shine a finer light on charities, all of them,said Representative Henry Waxman (D-California), after lawmakers grilled officials of a veterans charity that

spends just 25% of the money it raises on programs. Any charity ought to use a majority of its funds to benefitthe purpose of that charity.

Yale University announced it would increase endowment spending next school year by 37% to $1.15-billion

and pay the full tuition costs of students whose families earn less than $60,000, up from $45,000, the Wall

Street Journal reports. Yale President Richard C. Levin said the school also plans to drop all loans fromfinancial-aid packages in an effort to make the school affordable regardless of financial circumstances.

Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who has criticized well-endowed elite universities for sitting on hugebalance sheets, lauded the schools. Parents and students have a right to expect these universities with big

endowments to end the hoarding and start the helping with skyrocketing tuition costs, Grassley said. AfterYales announcement, Harvard University said it would also increase endowment spending to make attending

the Ivy League school more affordable.

Virginia-based Smithfield Foods is being sued by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation forallegedly infringing the foundations Race for the Cure trademark, the Washington Post reports. The lawsuit

came after the company filed a trademark application for Deli of the Cure, which it plans to feature on packag-ing to emphasize its corporate donations for breast cancer research. The foundation argues the slogan will

confuse consumers.

A report on the school privatization movement from Rick Cohen of the liberal National Committee for

Responsive Philanthropy finds that school vouchers and education tax credits garner widespread supportamong voters even if their enactment as the state and federal government levels has been spotty. Cohen

found that between 2002 and 2006 over 1,200 foundations gave grants to 132 school choice organizations, andthat the philanthropic playbook used by conservative foundations to promote school choice has been so

successful that other foundations could learn from it.

The nations largest donors gave a total of $7.3 billion last year, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropysannual survey. There were 20 donors who gave $100 million or more. Topping the list was William Barron

Hilton with his pledge of $1.2 billion to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

Former Congressman Mark Deli Siljander (R-Michigan) was indicted as part of a terrorist fundraising ring

alleged to have funneled more than $130,000 to a supporter of al-Qaeda and the Taliban who threatened U.S.troops in Afghanistan. The 42-count federal indictment accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency, which isalleged to fund terrorists, of paying Siljander $50,000 for lobbying using money stolen from the U.S. Agency for

International Development. Siljander is also a former U.S. delegate to the United Nations. Meanwhile, a federal

court in Boston last month convicted three leaders of the now-defunct Massachusetts Care International oflying to gain tax-exempt status for the group and then using it to finance Islamic radicals overseas.

The Internal Revenue Service said it will issue an updated version of Form 990, the return that charities and

other tax-exempt organizations are required to file annually, to be used for returns filed in 2009. The publiccomments we received in response to our draft form helped us develop a final form consistent with our guiding

principles of transparency, compliance and burden minimization, said IRS official Steven T. Miller.


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the clinton foundation: substance or style? by deborah corey barnes and matthew vadum (foundation...

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