The Real News About the Clinton Foundation
February 16 · Public
A belated Happy New Year,
2017 was a busy year for the Clinton Foundation. Besides our life-changing work around the world many of you know us for—helping farmers in East Africa, fighting climate change by promoting renewable energy, and opening opportunities for girls and women around the world—we also devoted more resources to our U.S. efforts—combating the opioid epidemic, helping more communities and schools improve health and wellness, increasing early learning, and mobilizing relief efforts in the wake of the Caribbean hurricanes.
Last fall, I traveled to Baltimore, Jacksonville, and St. Louis to visit sites where our work on the opioid epidemic is helping prevent overdose deaths, where children are leading healthier lives thanks to new food and exercise options at school, where communities have better tools to manage their health, and where parents have new resources to ensure the healthy development of their young children. I saw the continued work of the Clinton Global Initiative—from a STEM education commitment helping girls in St. Louis, to our tenth annual CGI University meeting at Northeastern University in Boston. In the last few weeks, I’ve visited Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, where we’ve been working to bring medical supplies and solar equipment, and Dominica, where we’ve been asked to help build a completely independent, clean energy-powered electrical system.
This is the real news about the Foundation.
Nevertheless, spreading false information about the Foundation continues, apparently as part of an ongoing strategy to distract attention from real problems and, over the long run, to completely erase the line between fact and fiction.
For example, just a few weeks ago on MSNBC, during a discussion of the President’s disparaging remarks about Haiti, his designated defender repeated the ridiculous assertion that I had taken money raised for Haiti for personal use and was responsible for the apparent suicide of a Haitian who knew all about it. Thankfully, the host cut her off, refusing to provide a forum for known false conspiracy theories. I’m proud of the work the Foundation and I have done in Haiti and will give you a more detailed report on that soon.
These attacks on the Foundation began in earnest with the 2015 publication of the Breitbart-inspired book, Clinton Cash. I thought the Foundation staff did a good job debunking the book’s charges, but they were published as written even in “mainstream” outlets, and even now the charges continue to be repeated online and in forums favorable to those who make them.
I have never responded personally to these charges, but out of respect for our donors, partners, and those who work at the Foundation, I think I should—because as we see, attacks, no matter how outrageous, can have a long life.
Here are just some of the false claims about the Foundation that were still being pushed in 2017 and into this year:
More important, we’ll keep doing the work that’s focused on building up, not tearing down. But we will call a lie a lie, particularly when it’s designed to undercut that work.
Several years ago, when the Foundation was one of the fastest growing in the U.S., Chelsea suggested we have a management review. The review recommended that we strengthen some of our central operations even though doing so would increase our overhead expenses, which at the time were about 10 percent. We did so, and increased reporting on our activities and contributions. Experts in philanthropy, who have reviewed our work in great detail, gave the Foundation high ratings in 2017—four out of four stars from Charity Navigator, Platinum from GuideStar, A from Charity Watch, and a 20 out of 20 score for meeting all of the Better Business Bureau’s good practice standards.
Still the most important thing is the work. I was grateful that in 2017 the Foundation attracted more than 7,500 new donors. We will use their support and that of our longtime contributors to help more people by:
Chelsea continues using her passion and expertise to drive the vision and programs of the Foundation in expanding access to early childhood education, improving community health and well-being, providing the next generation of young leaders with the resources they need to turn their ideas into action, making the empowerment of girls and women a priority across all of our programs, and continuing our commitment to community service.
The Foundation has moved into its new office here in New York City at 50th Street and Broadway. When I walk around I see busy, enthusiastic people doing work they care about. They are improving lives here and around the world. I’m proud of them and I’m proud of the Clinton Foundation.
I hope you’ll join us and the more than 300,000 people who support our work, and see for yourself what the Clinton Foundation is really about.
February 16 · Public
A belated Happy New Year,
2017 was a busy year for the Clinton Foundation. Besides our life-changing work around the world many of you know us for—helping farmers in East Africa, fighting climate change by promoting renewable energy, and opening opportunities for girls and women around the world—we also devoted more resources to our U.S. efforts—combating the opioid epidemic, helping more communities and schools improve health and wellness, increasing early learning, and mobilizing relief efforts in the wake of the Caribbean hurricanes.
Last fall, I traveled to Baltimore, Jacksonville, and St. Louis to visit sites where our work on the opioid epidemic is helping prevent overdose deaths, where children are leading healthier lives thanks to new food and exercise options at school, where communities have better tools to manage their health, and where parents have new resources to ensure the healthy development of their young children. I saw the continued work of the Clinton Global Initiative—from a STEM education commitment helping girls in St. Louis, to our tenth annual CGI University meeting at Northeastern University in Boston. In the last few weeks, I’ve visited Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, where we’ve been working to bring medical supplies and solar equipment, and Dominica, where we’ve been asked to help build a completely independent, clean energy-powered electrical system.
This is the real news about the Foundation.
Nevertheless, spreading false information about the Foundation continues, apparently as part of an ongoing strategy to distract attention from real problems and, over the long run, to completely erase the line between fact and fiction.
For example, just a few weeks ago on MSNBC, during a discussion of the President’s disparaging remarks about Haiti, his designated defender repeated the ridiculous assertion that I had taken money raised for Haiti for personal use and was responsible for the apparent suicide of a Haitian who knew all about it. Thankfully, the host cut her off, refusing to provide a forum for known false conspiracy theories. I’m proud of the work the Foundation and I have done in Haiti and will give you a more detailed report on that soon.
These attacks on the Foundation began in earnest with the 2015 publication of the Breitbart-inspired book, Clinton Cash. I thought the Foundation staff did a good job debunking the book’s charges, but they were published as written even in “mainstream” outlets, and even now the charges continue to be repeated online and in forums favorable to those who make them.
I have never responded personally to these charges, but out of respect for our donors, partners, and those who work at the Foundation, I think I should—because as we see, attacks, no matter how outrageous, can have a long life.
Here are just some of the false claims about the Foundation that were still being pushed in 2017 and into this year:
- No, Foundation funds were not used to pay for Chelsea’s wedding. It’s not only untrue, it’s a personal insult to me, to Hillary, and to Chelsea and Marc. It was a wonderful day that Hillary and I were grateful to be able to pay for (See the fact check here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/01/04/did-the-clinton-foundation-pay-for-chelseas-wedding/) The truth is, Chelsea, Hillary, and I have never taken a salary from the Foundation or any money for personal use from the Foundation. Instead, we have donated roughly $25 million to it, in contributions from our family foundation and speech revenue donated directly to the Foundation. Chelsea has given all her speech income to the Foundation. Since leaving the White House, Hillary and I have donated about 10 percent of our incomes to charity, over and above the dedicated speech revenue. I’ve also participated in about 1,000 charitable and civic events to benefit other organizations, averaging more than one a week.
- No, we didn’t receive millions in donations from El Chapo, and we didn’t give millions in donations to Antifa. (See the fact checks here: https://www.snopes.com/el-chapo-hillary-clinton-donation/ and here: https://www.snopes.com/clinton-foundation-antifa/)
- No, there wasn’t a Clinton Foundation cargo ship containing refugees that was raided in Baltimore. (See the fact check here: http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2017/may/12/blog-posting/fake-news-clinton-foundation-has-no-ships-didnt-sm/)
- No, we certainly didn’t charge FEMA $7 for bottles of water in Houston after Hurricane Harvey. (See the fact check here: http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2017/sep/06/ourlandofthefreecom/no-clinton-foundation-not-charging-7-water-bottle-/)
- And finally, no, we didn’t have any role in a number of terrible tragedies, including the Mandalay Bay shooting in Las Vegas. (See the fact check here: https://www.snopes.com/mandalay-bay-guard-clinton-foundation/)
More important, we’ll keep doing the work that’s focused on building up, not tearing down. But we will call a lie a lie, particularly when it’s designed to undercut that work.
Several years ago, when the Foundation was one of the fastest growing in the U.S., Chelsea suggested we have a management review. The review recommended that we strengthen some of our central operations even though doing so would increase our overhead expenses, which at the time were about 10 percent. We did so, and increased reporting on our activities and contributions. Experts in philanthropy, who have reviewed our work in great detail, gave the Foundation high ratings in 2017—four out of four stars from Charity Navigator, Platinum from GuideStar, A from Charity Watch, and a 20 out of 20 score for meeting all of the Better Business Bureau’s good practice standards.
Still the most important thing is the work. I was grateful that in 2017 the Foundation attracted more than 7,500 new donors. We will use their support and that of our longtime contributors to help more people by:
- Broadening our efforts, which began in 2012, to fight the opioid epidemic by helping lower the costs of Narcan and getting free doses available to high schools and colleges;
- Bringing our fight against childhood obesity into more schools, now up to 35,000 serving 21 million kids, and increasing our out-of-school efforts;
- Providing more opportunities for parents to talk, read, and sing with their young children to develop their brains and get them ready for school, including at more than 5,000 coin laundromats and more than 80 playgrounds;
- Supporting more clean, renewable energy development for island nations in the Pacific and Caribbean;
- Increasing yields and incomes for more than 150,000 farmers in East Africa;
- Continuing CGI University, which this year brought more than 1,200 college and university students from across the country and around the world to Northeastern University for the tenth annual meeting, making more than 750 Commitments to Action to address this generation’s most pressing challenges;
- Working with the foundations of Presidents George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush and Lyndon Baines Johnson on the Presidential Leadership Scholars program, which cultivates the next generation of civic leaders from the business, public service, education, nonprofit, health, and military sectors;
- Helping members of the CGI community develop and fulfill new commitments, especially to support Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other islands hit by this year’s devastating hurricanes.
Chelsea continues using her passion and expertise to drive the vision and programs of the Foundation in expanding access to early childhood education, improving community health and well-being, providing the next generation of young leaders with the resources they need to turn their ideas into action, making the empowerment of girls and women a priority across all of our programs, and continuing our commitment to community service.
The Foundation has moved into its new office here in New York City at 50th Street and Broadway. When I walk around I see busy, enthusiastic people doing work they care about. They are improving lives here and around the world. I’m proud of them and I’m proud of the Clinton Foundation.
I hope you’ll join us and the more than 300,000 people who support our work, and see for yourself what the Clinton Foundation is really about.