Obama Foundation Pay Exposed: 172 Six-Figure Earners

Obama Foundation pay is under fresh scrutiny after the nonprofit's tax filing for twenty twenty-five showed 172 of its 342 reported employees earned six figures, according to Fox News Digital's review of the filing. Chief executive Valerie Jarrett's total compensation reached seven hundred seventy-one thousand dollars, up roughly fifteen thousand five hundred dollars from the year before. The disclosure surfaced days after rank-and-file workers at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago began organizing a union, saying their benefits had been rolled back while workloads kept growing.

Jarrett, one of Barack Obama's closest advisers and a former senior White House official, has run the foundation since twenty twenty-one. She started the job at about five hundred eighty-one thousand dollars, and her pay climbed to seven hundred forty thousand dollars by the following year. It held near that level through twenty twenty-four before rising to nearly seven hundred fifty-five thousand dollars in the latest filing. She is one of at least four of the nonprofit's highest-paid executives with prior ties to the Obama White House or campaign, according to the reporting.

The next tier of the payroll is crowded. Robbin Cohen, who previously led Pritzker Realty Group, took home about six hundred sixty-six thousand dollars. Christina Tchen, a former chief of staff to Michelle Obama, received roughly four hundred thirty-one thousand dollars. Michael Strautmanis, a veteran of the Obama campaign and White House, collected about four hundred four thousand dollars. Ammar Rizki, once Cook County's chief financial officer, made approximately four hundred thousand dollars, and Laura Lucas Magnuson, a former White House communications official, received about three hundred ninety-six thousand dollars.

Workers describe a different workplace

While the senior ranks drew large checks, employees in visitor services, cleaning, museum and technology roles, and education and global programs moved to unionize as Obama Workers United with AFSCME Council 31. In a public letter, the workers said the gap between the mission language and daily conditions had become impossible to ignore. "Amidst increasing workloads we have seen our benefits rolled back and support from leadership to be minimal," the letter said. The group urged leadership to respect organizing rights and to avoid anti-union lawyers, messaging, or meetings.

The foundation answered with a statement supporting labor rights in principle. "We are deeply committed to the fundamental right of workers to organize and make their voices heard. As members of our staff explore union representation, we approach this process with immense gratitude for their contributions, deep respect for unions, and a sincere commitment to working collaboratively with our partners in labor," the statement said. What the filing does not settle is which benefits were cut, when the changes took effect, or where the union drive stands in a formal election.

Foundation vice president of communications Emily Bittner defended the pay structure, telling Fox News Digital, "The Foundation pays our employees rates that are competitive with the market." She said the board uses comparability data and a compensation consultant to review and approve pay for the chief executive, officers, and key employees each year. The foundation has also pointed to higher executive pay elsewhere in the nonprofit world, including roughly two million dollars for the chief executive of the Getty Trust, about one million seven hundred thousand dollars for the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, and around one million five hundred thousand dollars at the Mellon Foundation.

Presidential peers look leaner by comparison

The Obama Foundation's share of six-figure salaries stands out against other presidential nonprofits. In their most recent filings, the George W. Bush Presidential Center reported thirty-seven percent of employees above the six-figure line. The Carter Center came in at twenty-nine percent. The Clinton Foundation stood at twenty-three percent. The Reagan Foundation registered thirteen percent, and the George and Barbara Bush Foundation sat at ten percent.

Chief executive pay tells a similar story. The Reagan Foundation's top executive made about seven hundred thirty-five thousand dollars, and the Bush Presidential Center's about six hundred sixty-one thousand. The Carter Center's came in at five hundred thirty-one thousand dollars. The George and Barbara Bush Foundation reported four hundred twenty-six thousand six hundred dollars, while the Clinton Foundation's twenty twenty-four figure was four hundred twenty-five thousand dollars. Ohio State University accounting professor Brian Mittendorf, who studies nonprofit finances, told Fox News Digital that the Obama share of six-figure salaries was "clearly higher percentage than your average nonprofit," according to a second analysis of the same tax filing. He said the pay levels reflect outside market opportunities for specialized staff and described Jarrett's compensation as not unusual for a chief executive at an organization of that size.

A billion-dollar campus on public land

The pay debate plays out against the cost of the campus itself. The Obama Presidential Center's price tag reached one billion dollars, nearly triple the original estimate, on a nineteen point three-acre campus of publicly owned parkland in Jackson Park. The center held its opening and dedication ceremony on June eighteen, twenty twenty-six, and Jarrett, who oversaw the final years of construction, appeared at the events. The foundation says construction was privately funded and that operating costs are covered by revenues and private donations, though it acknowledges public money supported surrounding infrastructure work. The foundation's own books show payroll and benefits rising to fifty million four hundred thousand dollars in the latest filing year from eighteen million five hundred thousand dollars in twenty eighteen. Revenue ran about one hundred fifty-nine million dollars last year, with nearly one hundred fifty-one million coming from contributions and grants, while reported endowment funds stood at roughly fourteen million two hundred thousand dollars at year's end.

Illinois Republican Party chairman Bob Grogan framed the project in harsher terms. "The Obama Center is another far-left political operation that acts as a non-profit while using taxpayer dollars to make Barack Obama's inner circle rich," he said. The tax filing freezes one year of the operation in place: hundreds of staff, a swollen payroll, a chief executive near the top of the presidential-foundation pay range, and a rank-and-file cohort loud enough about workloads and benefits to seek a union. Read more coverage of the foundation's finances, and browse the latest from the Politics desk.