 | |
| Formation | February 1, 2017; 8 years ago (2017-02-01)[a] |
|---|---|
| Founders | |
| Dissolved | April 25, 2019; 6 years ago (2019-04-25) |
| Type | Nonprofit |
| 81-1329470[1] | |
| Legal status | Foundation |
The Biden Foundation was anonprofit organization under section501(c)(3) of the United States tax code that existed from 2017 to 2019. It was established by then former United States vice presidentJoe Biden andJill Biden with the stated mission to "champion progress and prosperity for American families".[1]
The initial establishment of the Biden Foundation as a 501(c)(3) organization was done, and received the approval of U.S. tax authorities, in 2016.[1]
The Bidens publicly launched the Biden Foundation on February 1, 2017.[2]It was stated that the purpose of the foundation was to allow them to continue pursuing the causes they cared most about once they left Washington.[2][3] These causes included Joe Biden'sCancer Moonshot Initiative, from his time as vice president, and theViolence Against Women Act, from his time as senator; and Jill Biden's support for military families, which had begun as theJoining Forces initiative during her time as second lady, and her focus oncommunity colleges, at one of which she continued to teach.[4]
Several former aides to Biden became prominent members of the foundation staff.[2] The board's chair wasTed Kaufman,[5] a senatorial chief of staff who had been appointed to fill Biden's senate seat when he became vice president.[2] The board's vice-chair wasValerie Biden Owens,[5] Joe Biden's sister and longtime political strategist.[2] Executive director of the foundation wasLouisa Terrell, another veteran of the Obama administration and various congressional staffs.[5]
Also working for the foundation were former Obama administration political adviserGautam Raghavan and former vice presidential economic advisorBen Harris.[6] Another figure associated with the foundation was former Senate Judiciary Committee counsel and U.S. ambassadorMark Gitenstein.[2]
The intent was that the foundation would be funded by donations, which would be tax-free to the donors.[2] For 2017, the foundation reported raising $6.6 million.[7] Among the donors to the foundation were retired corporate executiveBernard L. Schwartz and baseball ownerPeter Angelos.[8] The foundation did not accept money from foreign entities.[8]
TheNew York Times reported that most of the funds raised by the foundation went to staff salaries rather than grants and that in 2017, it made only one grant, for around $500,000.[8]
In May 2018 theDavid Bohnett Foundation, along with theGill Foundation, partnered with the Biden Foundation and theYMCA in a collaborative project to improve the levels of inclusiveness shown at YMCA locations around the country towards LGBTQ people.[9]
As part of the foundation, Jill Biden continued the advocacy work for military families that she had begun in Joining Forces.[10] (Joining Forces was resumed once she became first lady in 2021.[10])
On April 25, 2019, the foundation announced that it was suspending all operations, effective immediately, with a full wind-down of the foundation's activities to follow.[7]
This closing was due to the advent of the2020 Joe Biden presidential campaign, which was announced the same day.[7] Biden and his staff were anxious to not re-live the experience of theClinton Foundation during the2016 United States presidential election, which had kept going and thereby faced a series of conflict-of-interest charges that had bedeviled the2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.[8]
