Wealthy philanthropists use LLCs because they offer them flexibility to contribute to political campaigns, invest in companies and make charitable donations using one organization. Powell Jobs, whose fortune tops $16 billion, according to Forbes, does much of her philanthropic work through Emerson Collective, a limited liability company, or LLC, that focuses on education, immigration reform, environmental causes and owns a majority stake in The Atlantic magazine.īecause it’s set up as an LLC, Emerson doesn’t have reporting requirements - similar to Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures. “And when Congress allows people to avoid these rules by putting the money into this closed box of the donor-advised fund, they are subverting the purpose of the disclosure rules.” “Private foundations are subject to rules so that the public is supposed to be able to see what is happening with this money,” Madoff said. Ray Madoff, a Boston College Law professor who’s been pushing Congress to act on reforms, argues the problem with DAFs goes well beyond Powell Jobs - the foundations of Google co-founder Larry Page and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, for example, have made such donations in the past. The Ford Foundation, which recently elected Powell Jobs as a member of its board, has been backing similar DAF reform proposals. However, that could change if a Senate bill aiming to speed up donations from DAFs - and bar private foundations from meeting their payout rates by donating to these funds - is enacted. It’s legal for private foundations to donate to DAFs in order to meet their required 5% annual minimum payout rate. The spokesperson also declined to say if the foundation has distributed the $185 million it has already deposited in a DAF.
However, the spokesperson declined to say if the foundation will continue to put its money in a DAF, which could allow it to retain advisory privileges over its contributions well after 10 years.
(Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the DAF sponsor where Powell Jobs parked her contributions, says if a donor hasn’t recommended any grants after two years of donating funds, it will distribute the contributions through its own community fund.)Ī spokesperson with Emerson Collective has confirmed reports to The Associated Press that Waverley Street, which as of 2019 had $1.8 billion in assets, will sunset its work after 10 years. The website Inside Philanthropy first reported on Waverley’s DAF contributions.Ĭritics have been calling for DAF reforms because the accounts aren’t required to make donations to working charities in any given year, but allow donors to take immediate tax deductions. But where Waverley Street, formerly called Emerson Collective Foundation, has directed most of its gifts thus far remains a mystery.īiden focuses on climate, families in trimmed $2T plan Millions more were committed last week in the lead-up to the U.N.’s Climate Change Conference, set to be held in Glasgow, Scotland at the end of this month.įoundations are required to list contributions they make in a 990 form they file annually with the IRS. The announcement came late last month as donors pledged billions towards conservation and other climate efforts in tandem with the United Nations General Assembly. Its board includes Powell Jobs’ family members, including her son, Reed Jobs.
But if the donation patterns of her foundation continue, the public might never know where that money is going.Ī spokesperson with Powell Jobs’ company, Emerson Collective, said the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs will spend the funds through her charitable organization, Waverley Street Foundation. Philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs is gearing up to invest $3.5 billion into climate-focused initiatives in the next 10 years.
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