After Carter,
however, three out of four presidents have not quite lived up to that standard of statesmanship in public commitment. The foundations with the names of Presidents Reagan, Bush 41
and 43 have dedicated their efforts to ensure that the legacy and history of their
presidencies is polished. Before President Carter, President Nixon’s and Ford’s
foundations did the same as their later Republican presidential peers, and Ford
is credited with being the first former president to leverage his status to
enrich himself through the speech making and book circuit.
The Clinton
Foundation was started in 1997, following the customary method to fund the eventual Clinton
presidential library. After the Clinton presidency, multiple offshoots of this
foundation redefined the idea of service in a post presidential life. The Foundation
has grown immensely with some extraordinary accomplishments and, perhaps, some eyebrow raising alliances—normal for an organization with the scope,
scale, nature and structure that it has.
The Foundation has
become a complicated multi-national organization with staff and programs around
the world. A small portion of the Foundation’s expenses, about 6%, are used for
direct grants (charitable contributions), but the bulk of its expenses are in programs
with “intended social impact e.g., improving education, creating
livelihoods, improving health, etc.” implemented and operated by the Foundation.
It is facile to dismiss the Clinton Foundation as a “money making scheme” but
its level of transparency reveals true social work at a level unprecedented by
any former president’s initiatives.
Besides funding
the library, the Clinton Foundation includes now under its umbrella the
following:
·
The
Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative, which primarily focuses on small
business growth and equal opportunity which is the overarching theme of the Clinton Foundation. Its domestic efforts
have included the Harlem Small Business Initiative, the Entrepreneur Mentoring Program and
the Financial Mainstream Program.
·
The Clinton Global Initiative, which encompasses the world wide reach of the Foundation's work in 180 countries and that has transformed
positively the lives of 430 million people. CGI Annual Meetings have brought
together 190 sitting and former heads of state, more than 20 Nobel Prize
laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major
philanthropists, and members of the media. Its mission is “Turn Ideas into Action.”
·
The
Clinton Health Access Initiative, founded in 2002 as part of the CGI and spun
off in 2010, CHAI is a
global health organization committed to strengthening integrated health systems
in the developing world and expanding access to care and treatment for
HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
·
The Clinton Development Initiative, formed in 2006, with a mission to target
the root causes of poverty in Africa. It currently has projects to improve food
security, clean water and sanitation, and quality health care by operating
projects to empower smallholder farmers and increase their economic potential in
Rwanda, Malawi and Tanzania.
·
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a partnership between the Foundation
and the American Heart Association with a mission to reduce childhood obesity
in America. Among its initiatives included is the “Kids’ Movement.” The Kids'
Movement has inspired more than 2.5 million kids in America to make a pledge to
go healthy.
·
The Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, which has taken the Clinton Foundation’s mission primarily to Latin
America, with projects in El Salvador, Colombia and Peru.
·
The Clinton
Climate Initiative, founded in 2006 to combat climate change. Among other activities
it has the 1Sky campaign, supporting an 80% reduction in climate pollution by
2050. It has funded, among others, reforestation projects in Haiti.
·
The Clinton
Health Matters Initiative, launched in 2012, works to improve the
health and well-being of people across the United States.
The Foundation supports
continued relief efforts to the victims of the tsunami in Malaysia, hurricane Katrina
in New Orleans and the Haiti earthquake, efforts made in collaboration with
former President George HW Bush. With president George W. Bush, and starting during his presidency, it has led continuing anti AIDS and Malaria efforts in Africa.
The enormously
ambitious agenda of the Foundation has relied for its execution on fundraising from
many like-minded individuals and charity foundations, as well as corporations
and governments, some with possible hidden agendas not necessarily compatible with the Foundation’s
mission. It is conceivable that some tried to take advantage of connections
enabled by their donations to seek questionable political favors from persons
in positions of influence. What is unquestionable is the Foundation’s role in
improving the quality of life and broadening opportunity to millions of people
in the US and around the world.
Since its
beginning the Foundation is estimated to have raised $2B and it has an
estimated 200 to 300M in yearly contribution funds. Several independent charity
evaluation organizations have looked into the Clinton Foundation and found it
to adhere to sound charity practices: In its latest financials, for example, it shows nearly ninety percent of expenses used towards direct mission operation's work, out of a total of $242MM (2014); for each $100 raised, $2 are
spent to raise them. The American Red Cross, as an example, is also at the 90%
funds for charity out of $2.87B in expenses, but spends $30 for every $100
raised. Amnesty International USA uses 80% of its expenses for its operational
work, out of $32MM in expenses and spends $14 for each $100 raised. All these
organizations have garnered an A Rating from Charity Watch.
The Foundation is running a surplus between donations and expenses. This difference is being accumulated to create a permanent
endowment to make it less reliable on continuous fund raising and
decrease its exposure to influence peddling, given the high profile nature of
its directors and founders.
The political
attacks on the Foundation based on its name within the heat of a presidential
campaign are understandable. But using shorthand memes to undermine a complex
array of worldwide social programs that generate US good will and influence,
and has the support of former presidents from both parties, could damage the
image of our nation and affect charitable foundation work for years to come.
The bar for
post-presidential service has been raised from those first steps that
President Carter took. We hopefully will see in the next few years a greater
role of former presidents in using stately influence not only to maintain
a library but to make a positive mark in the world. After all, what else is a former president to do?
Where Does Clinton Foundation Money Go? -- FactCheck.Org
Charity Watch
Rating Alert: The
Clinton Foundation
No comments:
Post a Comment