The Clinton Foundation has collected more than $2 billion in revenue since it formed — but has given only the tiniest fraction to veterans groups, instead preferring to focus on international causes and in-house operations that provide far more control and less transparency.
Meanwhile, a separate private charity, the Clinton Family Foundation, has donated about $100,000 to veterans groups, according to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Rival Donald Trump’s charitable giving to veterans has come under scrutiny since he promised to raise millions for the cause at a January rally in Iowa. Reports questioned whether he followed through, forcing him to release a list of organizations and dollar amounts he gave — including a $1 million check of his own.
Far less attention has been given to the Clintons’ charitable giving to veterans through their own organizations, and particularly the main Clinton Foundation and its close affiliate, the Clinton Global Initiative.
An examination of the foundation’s 990s, the IRS form that tax-exempt 501(c)3 charities must file annually, do not show any direct grants to veterans groups since 1998, when President Bill Clinton established the organization.
Most of its domestic grants are directed at health care and anti-poverty organizations and disaster relief, and amount to a small percentage of its cash. The foundation took in some $338 million in 2014 and doled out just $4 million in 10 grants in the U.S. — with the largest being $2 million to a health care center in Oregon.
In 2013, the Clintons made 11 U.S. grants of about $6 million, including $2 million to one of its spinoffs, the Clinton Health Access Initiative. It took in nearly $300 million that year, its financial statements say.
The Clinton Global Initiative, meanwhile, does list some “commitments” it has with veterans groups, most of them starting after 2011.