After pay-to-play allegations, being put on a charity watchdog’s “watch list” last year, and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, it’s not surprising that donations to the Clinton Foundation have suffered a steep decline.
According to the group’s most recent tax filing, contributions dropped 37 percent to $108 million, which is down from $172 million in 2014.
The cash plummeted as Hillary Clinton left the nonprofit in April 2015 after announcing her ill-fated candidacy.The foundation became a major issue in the race, with Donald Trump vowing to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate it. […]
Not only did contributions drop, but so did revenue the Clintons brought in from speeches. That income fell to $357,500 from $3.6 million in 2014.
By the time the foundation’s Clinton Global Initiative held its annual conference in September 2015, many donors had bailed, including Samsung and ExxonMobil.
Donna Shalala, the former Health and Human Services secretary who was brought in to run the charity last year, suffered a stroke after the CGI meeting.
The foundation had been rocked by internal divisions after daughter Chelsea Clinton took a more active role in the organization in 2013, when the group was renamed the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Eric Braverman, a pal of Chelsea’s, was brought in to run the group, but he clashed with Bruce Lindsey, a senior adviser in the Clinton administration who had been CEO and became board chairman.
Braverman departed in January 2015 after 18 months, receiving a $330,000 payout, according to the tax filings. Shalala replaced him.
The Clinton Foundation refused to comment, but Shalala told The Chronicle of Philanthropy last month that the foundation had taken in money pledged in earlier years but those donations were recorded on earlier tax filings.
Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Jason Chaffetz vowed to continue an ongoing investigation of pay-to-play allegations between the Clinton Foundation and State Department.
"It’s this huge, massive mess that has to be cleaned up. So we would be remiss if we just dismissed it and moved on," Chaffetz told Fox News in a recent interview. "We have a lot of things that we have to fix, so it never ever happens again."
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