Clinton Foundation fundraising fell by $57 million in 2015, a year marked by fierce controversy over the charity’s foreign donors and their interactions with Hillary Clinton’s State Department.
The $100 million it collected last year represented a 36 percent drop in donations, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which obtained the fundraising numbers for 2015.
That reduction could be attributed in part to the end of a two-year fundraising push to create an endowment for the Clinton Foundation.
But it could also be a reflection of the toll Clinton’s presidential campaign has taken on her family’s philanthropy.
In 2015, the foundation faced severe scrutiny over its failure to disclose a number of high-dollar foreign contributions received during Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.
Critics have accused Clinton’s State Department staff of providing special access and favors to deep-pocketed foundation donors, an arrangement the Obama White House had hoped to avoid by forcing Clinton to sign a Memorandum of Understanding before her confirmation in 2009.
The controversy’s effect on donors was already apparent at the Clinton Global Initiative’s final annual meeting in September. Seven major corporate donors opted out of the event as the high-profile charity continued to serve as campaign fodder for Clinton’s opponents.
Clinton’s husband has pledged to step back from his eponymous charity should his wife win the White House in November. Although Chelsea Clinton will continue to serve on the foundation’s board, officials have vowed to end its acceptance of foreign and corporate contributions if Hillary Clinton wins.
