A breaking report exposed that Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett earned $740,000 in 2024, topping leaders at the Bush ($661k), Carter/Reagan (~$500k), and Clinton (<$500k) presidential foundations. Six of the top 10 executives are former Obama White House officials, raising major concerns about corruption.
Total compensation at the foundation surged from $18.5M in 2018 to $43.7M in 2024 as the staff grew to 337 members, while revenue scarcely reached ~$210M during the delayed $850M Obama Presidential Center build on Chicago’s public Jackson Park land.
Unlike traditional National Archives libraries, this is a private foundation-run campus that includes a museum, library branch, and athletic center, and only $1M has been collected so far toward its promised $470M endowment. Critics point to major risks of nepotism.
Adding much-needed context, Illinois GOP Chairman Kathy Salvi pointed out, “Illinois Democrats are truly living their best lives — making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to help design the ugliest building in Chicago. Their jaw-dropping salaries prove that Illinois’ culture of corruption is alive and well as Barack Obama’s top allies rake in the cash.”
Likewise, Laurie Styron, CEO of CharityWatch, said, “Any time you are dealing with a nonprofit that is politically connected in some way, there is always a heightened risk of nepotism creeping in,” raising major concerns over the potential impact of this scandal.
Building on this point, she added, “If multiple highly paid executives have ties to the former president’s administration, the public deserves significant transparency about how those hiring and compensation decisions were made.”
Additionally, she explained, “Having an independent review and having an official process in place for board approval, including independent data collection to set that compensation of the leader is really important for following best practices.”
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In a desperate attempt to control the narrative, the Obama Foundation issued a statement. “Executive salaries are based on competitive market rates for roles of the same level in similar institutions nationwide,” the foundation claimed. Continuing its attempted justification of this massive paycheck, the Obama Foundation alleged, “Overall, salaries throughout the foundation, across all levels, are discounted relative to those in the private sector.”
In any case, speaking in a promotional video released this week, former president Barack Obama stated, “This is not a monument to the past. It’s a living destination for people who refuse to accept the status quo. If you feel that way, this is your invitation to join us.”
Upset by the scandal, one conservative posted, “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 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,” the viral post stated.
The same source noted, “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.”
Watch Benny Johnson comment on the disaster that is the Obama library area here: