Obama Foundation spent nearly $12 million on programming, $5 million on architects. Michael Towner, Iconic Legacy.

The Obama Foundation was created in 2014, but President Obama did not actively raise funds while he was in office and capped donations at $1 million. Last year was the first year that the foundation began aggressively fundraising.​

In 2017, the foundation raised about $232 million in contributions from private donors. It spent the bulk of its income — about $21.3 million — on operations, salaries and programs, recently released tax documents show.

According to the records, in his first year overseeing the foundation, CEO David Simas earned $590,651. His salary is nearly twice what the CEO of the George W. Bush Foundation earned in 2016, the last year available.

The executive director of the foundation, Robbin Cohen, earned $827,834 last year, the documents show. Cohen has worked for the foundation since it was founded and worked for free the first year.

The Obama Foundation spent nearly $12 million on programming last year, including its star-studded international summit that brought leaders, elected officials and world-renowned activists to a two-day conference in the South Loop, newly released records show.

The foundation also spent about $5 million paying its architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien to design the Obama Presidential Center campus, according to the tax documents.

The Obama Foundation is responsible, among other things, for overseeing the development and construction of the Obama Presidential Center — a sprawling campus made up of three buildings on the South Side. The project has drawn national attention because it could transform struggling, lower-income communities by creating jobs, attracting tourists and possibly sparking more investment. But the project has stirred emotions and revealed deep divisions in the community among racial and class lines.

A small group of environmentalists has filed a lawsuit hoping to kill the project and keep it from being constructed in Jackson Park. A collective of activists is also pressuring the foundation to sign a legal contract guaranteeing a rental assistance fund, property tax freezes for homeowners and a majority number of jobs for residents who currently live near the proposed site.

From the time it was announced, officials with the foundation said the Obama Presidential Center would be unlike any other. And in 2017, the group began rolling out programming to demonstrate how it would tackle its mission to “inspire, empower and connect people to change their world.”

The foundation has created a fellowship program and a scholarship for graduate students at the University of Chicago and Columbia University in New York. It has hosted public meetings and leadership training events across the country.

But in its first year, the foundation’s largest event was a summit that drew more than 500 thought leaders and innovators from Houston; Jakarta, Indonesia; London; and even Kenya and Mexico to the South Side. The conference had sessions both by former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.

At the event, during his opening remarks, Barack Obama told the gathering that he wanted to bring all of the attendants to the South Side, where he started his work as an organizer.

Obama’s center is expected to cost $500 million and is expected to be completed by 2021. The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum cost $250 million to build and was constructed in 30 months, records show. The William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum cost $165 million to build and was constructed in 36 months.
​Michael Towner

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