Skip to content

Fundraising at the Obama Foundation

About

Share
President Obama smiles as he shakes hands with an excited crowd of young people extend their hands.

Learn more about our fundraising goals to support our work to inspire, empower, and connect the next generation of leaders and bring the Obama Presidential Center to life on the South Side of Chicago.

Bring Hope Home

The Obama Foundation has set an ambitious goal of raising $1.6 billion to fuel the Foundation’s pursuit of its mission to inspire, empower, and connect the next generation of leaders. With this support, we will build and open the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago, sustain the Obama Foundation’s global programs and operations, and seed an endowment for the future of the Obama Foundation’s work. Given the Foundation’s deep roots in the city, we aim to raise $400 million of our overarching fundraising goal from Chicago and the Midwest.

Our $1.6B Goal
A graphic that details the cost breakdown associated with the Obama Foundation's fundraising goal.
Center Construction
$700M
Center Startup
$90M
Center Opening
$40M
Endowment
$470M
Obama Foundation Global Programming
$320M

Check out more details about our fundraising plans

Learn More
A rendering of the Forum and Museum building at the Obama Presidential Center

The Obama Presidential Center

$830 million will support the Center. $700 million will go towards the construction of the Center. $90 million will go towards start-up expenses, including collecting artifacts, and designing exhibits. Finally, $40 million will be used for the Center’s opening and operations for one year after construction is completed.

Within the overarching $830 million for the Center, $75 million will support our Hometown Fund, to invest in workforce development and local community impact in our hometown of Chicago.

Global Programming

$320 million will support the Foundation’s global programming, including Obama Leaders and Scholars, the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, the Girls Opportunity Alliance, and the broader operations of the Foundation.

Officer Shelton is a close friend of Pastor Tracey, and recruited her to serve as the vice chair of the CAPS office faith base.
President Obama points to the model of the Obama Presidential Center. Mrs Obama stands behind him in a patterned dress with her arms crossed.

The Obama Foundation’s Endowment

$470 million will seed an endowment that will sustain the Obama Foundation’s work for generations to come.

Founding Donors

Fundraising

(As of September 28, 2021)

We are deeply grateful for our supporters who share our belief in the power of people working together to change their communities, and whose generosity has propelled our work forward.

We would like to recognize the generosity of our Founding Donors who invested early and at a critical juncture: before we broke ground on our permanent home on the South Side of Chicago. The following donors have contributed $100,000 or more.

$25,000,000 and above

Connie and Steve Ballmer

Lynne and Marc R. Benioff

Jeff Bezos

Ann and John Doerr

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation*

Michelle Yee and Reid Hoffman — Aphorism Foundation

Hutchins Family Foundation

The Parker Foundation

Pritzker Traubert Foundation*

Silicon Valley Community Foundation

Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

$10,000,000 - $24,999,999

The Boeing Company*

Gwendolyn Weiner, The EOS Foundation Trust

Exelon Corporation*

Fidelity Charitable

Health Care Service Corporation*

Barbara and Amos Hostetter

Irwin Mark Jacobs and Joan Klein Jacobs

Michael Jordan and Family*

JP Initiative, LLC

Kapor Center

John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation*

Joe and Rika Mansueto*

Microsoft Corporation*

National Philanthropic Trust

New York Community Trust

Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling*

Open Society Foundations

The Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation*

Prudential Financial, Inc.*

Rhimes Family Foundation

Sacks Family Foundation*

Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg's The Wunderkinder Foundation

$5,000,000 - $9,999,999

Aliko Dangote Foundation

Judy & Peter Blum Kovler Foundation

Stephen Cloobeck

Ron Conway Family

The Crown Family*

Ray & Dagmar Dolby Family Fund

Enterprise Holdings Foundation

The Ford Foundation

Amy Goldman Fowler

Andrew Houston

Irving Harris Foundation — Joan Harris*

The Jewish Communal Fund

Jonathan and Jeannie Lavine, Trustees

McDonald’s Corporation*

Nike Foundation*

Barbara Schmidt

Sandra and John W. Thompson

Laurie and Jeff Ubben

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation*

The Anne Wojcicki Foundation

$1,000,000 - $4,999,999

The Addy Foundation

Alphawood Foundation*

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

AT&T*

Colleen & Bradley Bell Charitable Foundation

The Bluhm Family Charitable Foundation*

BMO Financial Group*

Drs. Amy and Joshua Boger

The Eli & Edythe Broad Foundation

John & Jacolyn Bucksbaum Family Foundation*

The Builders Initiative*

Ursula M. Burns

The California Endowment

Sonya and Tom Campion

Capital One Services LLC

Marcy Carsey

The Chenault Family

Chicago Community Trust*

Robert and Jane Clark*

CME Group Foundation*

James Crane and Whitney Wheeler Crane

Eileen and John Donahoe

The Donovan Family

The Edelman Family*

Fred Eychaner*

FedEx Corporation*

Fidelity Charitable (3)

Fifth Third Chicagoland Foundation*

James and Karen Frank*

GCM Grosvenor*

The Gibbons Scattone Family Foundation

The Goldberg Family Foundation

The John & Marcia Goldman Foundation

Lisa & Douglas Goldman Fund

Google.org*

The Grain Family Foundation, Inc.

Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Gift Fund*

Brenda and James Grusecki*

Ms. Agnes Gund

Ambassador Fay Hartog-Levin and Daniel Levin*

The Harris Family Foundation*

The Hauptman Family Foundation

Mel Heifetz

Elzie Higginbottom*

Iger Bay Foundation

Illinois Tool Works*

Tony and Amie James

Wayne Jordan and Quinn Delaney

The Joyce Foundation*

Peter L. Kellner

Rebecca and Lester Knight*

Jeff and Erica Lawson

The Reginald F. Lewis Family Foundation, Inc.

The Links Foundation, Incorporated*

Lloyd A. Fry Foundation*

lululemon athletica inc.

Demond & Kia Martin Foundation

Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare

Katie McGrath & J.J. Abrams Family Foundation

Scott Miller and Tim Gill

Marcus Mitchell

Robert R. McCormick Foundation*

Motorola Solutions*

Scott Nathan and Laura DeBonis

Northern Trust*

President Barack H. Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama*

Todd Park and Amy Geng

Tyler Perry

Polk Bros. Foundation*

Polsky Foundation*

Jeanne and John Kevin Poorman through JKP Family Foundation*

Linda & Richard Price Family Fund*

Rattner Family Foundation

Richard Paul & Ellen S. Richman Private Family Trust Foundation

Laura and Brooke Ricketts*

Victoria and John Rogers*

Rosenthal Family Foundation

Amy and Kirk Rudy

Schlosstein Hartley Foundation

Service Station Foundation

Beth and David Shaw

Jon and Kimberly Shirley

$1,000,000 - $4,999,999 Continued

Ian Simmons through ImpactAssets Donor Advised Fund

Marilyn and Jim Simons

Brad Smith and Kathy Surace-Smith

Someland Foundation

Steans Family Foundation*

Barbara Stiefel

Mrs. Marjorie Susman and Ambassador Louis B. Susman*

John T. Theodorsen

Robert and Jane Toll Foundation

Ranvir & Adarsh Trehan/Trehan Foundation

UL*

Catherine M. and Frederick H. Waddell*

Walgreens*

WarnerMedia

L. and J. Weiner Foundation

Robert & Carol Wolf Family Foundation

Mary and Jeffrey Zients

$500,000 - $999,999

Christine & John Bakalar Charitable Fund*

Comer Family Foundation*

The Patricia Crown Family*

Nancy-Ann DeParle

Don & Anne Edwards Charitable Fund*

Jill and Avram Glazer

Cindy and Alan Horn

The Philip and Tammy Murphy Family Foundation

Mark Pincus

Sheli and Burton Rosenberg*

The Rumi Foundation

Silicon Valley Community Foundation

The Weglarz Family in Memory of Cynthia "Thia" Weglarz-Rountree*

Connie and Sankey Williams

The Brin Wojcicki Foundation

Kevin Xu

$250,000 - $499,999

Patricia Passmore Alley

The Alter Group*

Michael and Ellen Alter*

Atlantic Philanthropies

James and Mary Bell*

Mark Bergman and Susan Gibson

Vinton Cerf and Sigrid Cerf

Tim Collins

Lester, Chanel, and Javon Coney*

ESPN Inc.

Jason and Crystal Goldman

Horowitz Family Foundation

Pamela and William Hurley

The Jewish Communal Fund

Tom Kartsotis

Fred and Flora Khosravi

The Kresge Foundation

Lewis-Sebring Family Foundation, Charles Ashby Lewis and Penny Bender Sebring*

Nicholas and Monica Logothetis

Thomas Nides and Virginia Moseley

The Rockhaven Charitable Fund

Kim and Nicholas Romano

The San Francisco 49ers

Peter and Jennifer Scanlon*

Dona and Sam Scott Foundation*

John Shulman and Alison Bernstein Shulman

Skoll Foundation

Lisa Stone Pritzker Family Foundation

Catherine and George Ward

Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation*

$100,000 - $249,999

Jim and Wendy Abrams*

Hagerty Altenbernd Family Charitable Fund*

Baskin Family Foundation*

Pamela Bass-Bookey and Harry Bookey*

Jay Kriz Blahnik and Ryan Kriz Blahnik

Andrew and Ellen Bradley

Shannon and Clint Brayton

Carla and John Brozovich

Burch Giving Fund

Jedd and Dara Canty

The Carell Family Trust

Craig Newmark Philanthropies

Edward and Paula Fearon

Paul and Mary Finnegan*

Fisher Family Foundation

The Friedman Family*

The Robert and Susan Glovsky Fund

The Goolsbee Family*

Mark Gordon

Susan Goss Brown

Marilou and Mark Hamill

Drew Hamlin & Leslee Kurihara

HAND Foundation

Brett J. Hart and Dontrey Britt-Hart*

Hasbro Inc.

Tiffany and Alex Heckler

Bruce and Vicki Heyman*

Paula and Edward Hughes

Intel Corporation

George Kaiser Family Foundation

Kenneth and Lisa Jackson

William Jones and Cheryl Sueing-Jones

Karla Jurvetson

Masanori Kanda

Ambassador Ronald Kirk and Mrs. Matrice Ellis-Kirk

Chris Korge

Michael and Mattie Lawson

Leslie Malaika Lewis

Chuck Lorre Family Foundation

The Lostand Foundation

Kevin Love Fund

In memory of William P. Mahoney

Marin Community Foundation

The John and Judy McCarter Family*

Minow Family Foundation*

Nancy Ellen Myers

Myrin Family Giving Fund

Rick and Christian Olson Family Fund

Ambassador Robert and Mitsuko Orr

Ulice Payne, Jr.*

Carol and David Pensky

PGA Tour

A. Robert Pietrzak

Lauri Altman Posner and Brian Posner

The Prasad Hack Family*

The P&G Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation

The Revlis Foundation

Kathryn H. Ruemmler

Peter and Mary Russo Family Foundation

Shiva Sarram and Drew Pearson

Susan Shenk

James & Kathleen Skinner Family Fund*

Stripe, Inc.

Anne & Bruce Strohm Family Giving Fund*

Andrew Sutherland

Chade-Meng Tan

Andy P. Tobias

Under Armour, Inc.

The University of Chicago

Glen de Vries

Mack Wilbourn

Yardi Systems, Inc.

Aaron and Ana Zamost

*Founding Donors from the Midwest support the Chicago Campaign, a $400 million effort in our hometown. 

Development Leadership Councils

We are grateful for key leaders across the country who have driven critical fundraising and engagement efforts on the road to groundbreaking.

Chicago Campaign Committee:

James Crown, Co-chair

Mellody Hobson, Co-Chair

Valerie Jarrett, Co-chair

Frederick Waddell, Co-chair

Gloria Castillo

Tarrah Cooper Wright

Helene Gayle

Walter Massey

Tamar Newberger

Northern California and Pacific Northwest Regional Advisory Council:

Freada Kapor Klein, Co-chair

Todd Park, Co-chair

Ronald Conway

Mitchell Kapor

Mary Pang – Honorary Member

Sandra Thompson

Steve Westley

Southern California Regional Advisory Council:

Colleen Bell, Co-chair

E.O Robinson, Co-chair

Maria Contreras-Sweet

Kenneth Solomon

Catherine Ward

Texas Regional Advisory Council:

Ronald Kirk & Matrice Ellis-Kirk, Co-chairs

Eugene Sepulveda & Steven Tomlinson, Co-chairs

Kirk & Amy Rudy, Co-chairs

More About Donating to the Obama Foundation