Nothing Has Yet Gone To Charity

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA

President Trump’s inaugural committee raised an unprecedented $107 million and the committee pledged to give leftover funds to charity. That amount doubled President Barack Obama’s then-record inauguration donations in 2009, which totaled around $53 million. Nearly eight months later, the Trump inaugural committee has helped pay for redecorating the White House and the vice president’s DC residence.

But nothing has yet gone to charity.

An inaugural committee is appointed by the president-elect to take charge of the presidential inaugural ceremony and related activities. This committee is required to disclose to the Federal Election Committee (FEC) all donations received. This report is due to the FEC no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the 90th day following the date of the presidential inaugural ceremony. That date came and went. We learned who the donors were. They included uber-wealthy givers like investment firm founder Charles Schwab, mining entrepreneur Christopher Cline, and the Bank of America. Investor and casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson spent $5 million, which, according to the New York Times, is the largest single contribution given to any president’s inaugural committee. Sadly, presidential inauguration committees do not have to disclose how the funds were spent.

But nothing has yet gone to charity.

We also learned that the campaign committee is now paying legal bills related to the investigation of Mr. Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia, which makes him the first US president to use such funds to cover the costs of responding to a criminal probe. Is this also true of the inauguration funds?

But nothing has yet gone to charity.

The recent AP news story about the funds being promised to charity did not quote one nonprofit leader on what we thought about this unfulfilled pledge. This is also true of ten other articles that I surveyed—an example of how we of the nonprofit sector are invisible to most of the mainstream media, and to this administration. Yet what are we doing to call-out this bad behavior?

Isn’t it interesting that “45” wants our blessing? He wants “virtue by association” with us, because “giving to charity” means you are a good person. If that’s true, what does it mean that he has not fulfilled his pledge? It means he basks in our light without the right to do so. Yet what are we doing to say that this is not okay?

According to author and fundraiser Frank A. Monte, from a legal standpoint, a charitable pledge is a contract between a donor and a charity in which the donor promises to make a contribution in the future. Such a pledge may be oral or in writing. Obviously, a written pledge is preferable, and charities as well as donors are well advised to reduce all oral pledges to writing as soon as possible. In a disagreement, nothing “trumps” the written word. However, our public servants are expected to keep their word or be discredited.

Back in April, Mr. Trump’s campaign committee said it was still identifying charities toward which it would direct leftover money. Why is it taking so long?

The Trump campaign committee is due for its next disclosure on October 15th.  Let’s see if anything has come our way by then. In the meantime, please join me in speaking out for transparency and accountability.

We welcome your comments about this post on the LAPA blog.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Related Posts

The CEO as Chief Fundraiser: A Role That Should Never Be Delegated

Our recent posts have lasered in on fundraising perennials–retention of fundraising staff, annual funds, and why donors give.  Another perennial stacks up as equally worthy of thoughtful commentary, and that’s the role of the chief executive officer in fundraising.  

A short definition of a CEO is he or she who makes decisions.  Nowadays, we recognize the value of consensus decision-making, and that’s fine.  But the kinds of decisions I’m referring to are the big ones, decisions such as those made by the captain of a ship.

Read More »
Fundraiser Retention

How To Improve Fundraiser Retention

That disturbingly high turnover rates and low morale plague fundraising professionals is nothing new. Research going back almost two decades shows this to be true.

One study in particular found that the “average fundraiser stays on a job only 16 months.”

In fact, just last year, author Rob Webb called on us to act on fundraising turnover right here in NonProfit Pro.

The past research on turnover was best summarized by our colleague Penelope Burke as follows:

Read More »

The Secret to Why Donors Give

There are many reasons we in the fundraising industry tell one another about why donors give.  They are moved by your mission, they know a board or staff member, they’ve given for years, to name a few.  I doubt that all of them are true, and I especially doubt that they are all true at the same point in the giving calculus for each donor.

Read More »