Obama Foundation fundraising dipped in 2023, after record haul in 2022

WASHINGTON — Coming off a blockbuster fundraising year in 2022, the Obama Foundation in 2023 had its worst year since its mega-fundraising began in 2017, according to records released on Wednesday.

At the same time, operating expenses jumped.

The Hyde Park-based foundation disclosed information about its finances and programs in two documents — its 2023 IRS Form 990 and annual report. Tax-exempt organizations are required to file a 990 report each year and reveal their highest-paid employees and contractors.

In his message in the annual report, Obama said: “For a lot of people, the very idea of democracy can feel like an academic exercise — a set of creaky institutions and archaic laws disconnected from their everyday lives. At the Obama Foundation, we believe democracy is about something more fundamental. It’s about the choices we make, the values we live by, and the ways we treat each other — including people who don’t look like us or pray like us or see the world exactly like we do.”

The former president and former first lady Michelle Obama have taken on a massive fundraising burden — to build and operate the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park as well as a growing number of programs around the world.

The opening of the center — delayed through the years — is expected in the spring of 2026, with the athletic center launching operations in the fall of 2025.

The estimated cost of the center — construction, museum exhibits, programs, and an endowment — remains $830 million. According to the annual report, construction costs so far amount to $392.2 million.

Here’s more that’s new, according to the 990 and annual reports:

Fundraising gifts down from 2022

In 2023, the foundation collected $129,320,227 in contributions and grants, down from a record $311,359,661 in 2022, the most the foundation collected since its first fundraising year in 2014. The foundation started pursuing megadonors in 2017, the year Obama left office.

The foundation in 2023 was not able to replicate two gifts from giant donors in 2022: $125 million from Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky, and $100 million from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

The foundation disclosed to the Sun-Times other major donors, but not the amounts : Joe Gebbia, an Airbnb co-founder; Bloomberg Philanthropies; Northwestern Medicine; Apple Inc. and the Knight Foundation.

It takes money to raise money

Fundraising expenses jumped last year, to $19.5 million from $13.5 million in 2022, as the foundation tries to start to wean itself from dependence on megadonations from corporate and individual givers. A foundation spokesperson said the number of gifts over $25 million dropped in 2023.

Last year marked an emphasis on cranking up smaller donor giving, “to diversify and expand our donor base, which is a key part of our strategy to ensure financial stability and resilience," a foundation spokesperson told the Sun-Times. "While this has temporarily increased our fundraising expenses, it's a critical step toward a sustainable future with a broader donor community that will lead to healthier long-term growth.”

In the 2020 annual report, the foundation set a goal of raising $1.6 billion over the next five years. The 2023 financial data shows, all told, $1.3 billion in revenue toward that benchmark. As of 2023, $1.5 billion has been pledged, even if the records released to the public don't reflect the gifts, the foundation spokesperson said.

Other expenses up, including grants to nonprofits

Operating expenses jumped to $88.7 million in 2023, from $65 million in 2022.

The foundation employed 312 people in 2023, up from 251 in 2022. Salaries and other compensation for employees increased about $10 million, to $39.2 million. A foundation spokesperson said the staff grew in part because the Obama Center is gearing up its operations, and because of other costs and initiatives.

Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett’s pay package remained about the same: $754,948 in 2023, up $884 from the previous year.

Overall spending for programs in 2023 hit $53.6 million, up from $34.8 million in 2022.

  The foundation oversees a sprawling network of programs in Chicago, around the nation and 147 countries and territories. Programs include leadership training, as well as fellowships at the University of Chicago and Columbia University in New York. A major foundation program in 2023 was a weeklong event in Athens, Greece, attended by 100 participants from nations in Africa, the Asian-Pacific and Europe.

The Obama Foundation makes grants to other organizations, and that spending expanded to $13.4 million in 2023 from $4.4 million in 2022. That includes $1 million to the Tides Center in San Francisco last year, a social justice organization that has been the target of right-wing attacks.

"The Tides Center served as the fiscal sponsor of Cities United, which My Brother’s Keeper used to implement their Freedom Summer program in 2023," the foundation spokesperson said. "Cities United managed the program implementation while Tides helped process grant payments to the selected grantees."

My Brother's Keeper is one of the foundation's signature programs.

The foundation also paid $1 million to the Chicago Park District in 2023 to pay for a new playground near the Obama Center to make up, in part, for taking 19.3 acres in historic Jackson Park for the complex.
 

 Gifts, grants and contribution totals since the foundation was created in 2014:

2023: $129,320,227

2022: $311,359,661

2021: $159,660,416

2020: $171,102,620

2019: $139,037,209

2018: $163,949,264

2017: $231,993,748

2016: $13,175,732

2015: $1,916,247

2014: $5,434,877