The Barack Obama Foundation is supposed to be a charity, but it’s using tax-free donations to pay the Obama Ctr’s unusually high honey-pot wages for Obama insiders, with far richer wages than the Clinton, Bush, Reagan and Carter Centers. Its compensation costs nearly tripled to…
— Elizabeth MacDonald (@LizMacDonaldFOX) March 13, 2026
The Barack Obama Foundation is supposed to be a charity, but it’s using tax-free donations to pay the Obama Ctr’s unusually high honey-pot wages for Obama insiders, with far richer wages than the Clinton, Bush, Reagan and Carter Centers. Its compensation costs nearly tripled to $43.7M from $18.5M since 2018.
The problem is, the foundation promised to create a reserve/endowment to protect taxpayers if financial trouble hit in exchange for control of 19+ acres of public parkland.
But the Obama Fdn has only put about $1 million into what was publicly discussed as a potential $470M reserve — meaning taxpayers will be on the hook for future costs if revenues fall short. State taxpayers have already paid $229M for public infrastructure costs. Costs already ballooned to $830M fm the $500M projected. The City of Chicago has kept taxpayers in the dark, if still has not published a complete, reconciled total of how much it has actually spent or will spend.
The center in Chicago itself is still not open, yet it rapidly hired hundreds of employees and spent tens of millions in payroll. Donations are supposed to fund public programs, scholarships, and community work. Large executive salaries make it look like donor money is enriching insiders:
Valerie Jarrett – CEO $740,000
David Simas – Former president / CEO $584,888
Robbin Cohen – Executive vice president $535,898+
Anne Filipic – Chief program officer $428K
Glenn Brown – Chief digital officer $454K
Bernadette Meehan – Chief international officer $331K
Michael Strautmanis – Executive vice president for civic engagement $355,195
Jordan Kaplan – Chief development officer $256K
Here’s how the presidential centers’ CEO wages compare-
Obama Fdn $740K Valerie Jarrett
Bush Presidential Center $661K
Reagan Foundation $490K–$605K
Carter Center $500K
Clinton Foundation $500K
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