Tuesday, September 20, 2016

The Murky World of the Clinton Foundation

According to Bill Clinton, the Clinton Foundation has raised $2 billion since 2001; and helped 430 million people in 180 countries.  That certainly sounds like a very effective charitable concern.  However, the facts get a little murky when people start digging into the spending habits of this foundation.

According to their tax return for 2014, the Clinton Foundation took in $178 million.  Just $5.2 million was doled out to other non-Clinton charities.   The largest donations went to other "Clinton" charities.  $23.2 million was given to the Clinton Global Initiative.  $12.3 million to the Clinton Library.  And, $8.3 million to the Clinton Climate Initiative.  Most all of the rest of the monies went to salaries and administration, travel, rent, and office supplies.  For example, in 2014, the foundation spent $7.9 million on travel and $6.6 million on office supplies.  That's a lot of pencils, and far more than the $5.2 million in other charitable giving.

In fact, the Clinton Foundation's charitable activities were so confusing that a leading monitoring group, the Charity Navigator, put them on their "watch list" as being problematic.

On top of all of that, we find that in Hillary's recent release of she and her husband's tax return, 96% of the slightly more than $1 million in charitable deductions went to the Clinton Foundation.

Simply, it appears that under the umbrella of charitable giving, a lot of money does not go to charitable giving.  Certainly, this is why the FBI was investigating the "Foundation" as a public corruption case until Obama shut the investigation down.  Perhaps the fact that Bill Clinton has decided to close the Clinton Foundation in the Fall, even if Hillary loses, has more to do with an attempt to evade more scrutiny by the FBI should the Republican become president.  As usual, its always something with the Clinton's!

References:

Bill Clinton shuts down his 'global initiative' even if Hillary loses in bid to stop cash-for-access controversy - and will severely limit Foundation if she wins: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3747959/Clintons-foundation-alter-donations-policy-elected.html

Obama administration blocked FBI probe of Clinton Foundation: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/11/obama-admin-blocked-fbi-probe-clinton-foundation/

Clinton Foundation Spent Less Than 6 Percent On Charitable Grants In 2014: http://thefederalist.com/2016/09/16/clinton-foundation-spent-6-percent-charitable-grants-2014/

Charity watchdog: Clinton Foundation a ‘slush fund’: http://nypost.com/2015/04/26/charity-watchdog-clinton-foundation-a-slush-fund/

96 Percent Of Hillary’s Charitable Donations In 2015 Went To Clinton Foundation: http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/12/96-percent-of-hillarys-charitable-donations-in-2015-went-to-clinton-foundation/

Obama admin blocked FBI probe of Clinton Foundation corruption: Report: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/11/obama-admin-blocked-fbi-probe-clinton-foundation/

pb




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