Clinton Foundation Helps the Poor
This originally appeared on The Wall Street Journal on June 10, 2015.
I’m just finishing my first week as president of the Clinton Foundation, but I’ve worked here long enough to know that Kimberley Strassel’s “The Clinton ‘Charity’ Begins at Home” (Potomac Watch, June 5) misses the mark about the foundation and its dedicated, professional staff who any organization in the world would be proud to have.
The foundation is a unique organization that has created a partnership model to tackle our world’s biggest challenges. Our senior leadership reflects this collaborative approach, with more than 200 years of management experience in diverse fields including global logistics, international development and finance.
It’s true that some at the foundation have worked with President Clinton or Secretary Clinton at other points in their long careers. These are good people, and I am honored to count myself among them. I know from my own experience that people are drawn to positions in public service for the same reason they are drawn to nonprofits like the foundation — they want to make a difference in others’ lives. That’s what they do every day at the foundation.
To claim that we are only interested in “the occasional good deed” is demonstrably false. The foundation and its affiliates have helped 9.9 million in 70 countries access HIV/AIDS medicines; more than 16 million kids in America get healthier meals at school; and more than 85,000 farmers in Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania increase their incomes.
Helping people is not only our full-time job — it’s a deep passion that burns within everyone who works here.
