The facts
The Obama Foundation reported that half of its 342 employees earned over $100,000 in 2025, a figure accounting for 172 individuals. CEO Valerie Jarrett's salary was $771,000, with at least four other top executives also having previous ties to the Obama White House or campaign and earning substantial salaries. Emily Bittner, the foundation's vice president of communications, stated that employee pay is competitive with the market. Accounting professor Brian Mittendorf noted that while this proportion of high earners is higher than typical nonprofits, it may be explained by the foundation's specialized workforce. The foundation's annual payroll and benefits increased to $50.4 million in 2025 from $18.5 million in 2018. This comes as rank-and-file employees are pushing for union representation, citing concerns over rolled-back benefits and increased workloads. The Obama Presidential Center's construction costs have also reportedly reached $1 billion, nearly triple the initial estimate. The foundation maintains that construction is privately funded and operating costs are covered by revenues and private donations.
Our take
Let's get this straight: the Obama Foundation, that beacon of hope and change, is basically a six-figure salary factory with a side hustle in building a monument to itself. They've got 342 people on the books and 172 of those cunts are pulling down over a hundred grand a year. That's not a nonprofit, that's a fucking country club where the dues are paid by gullible donors who think they're funding 'community organizing.'
At the tippy-top of this grift pyramid sits CEO Valerie Jarrett, collecting a cool 771,000 dollars for the year. That's not a salary; that's a mid-sized house in a good school district, annually. And she's not alone. At least four other top dickheads are also Obama administration retreads, meaning the whole operation is just a fucking alumni association for failed politicians, now with a billion-dollar construction project to mismanage.
The foundation's flack, Emily Bittner, had the gall to say the pay is 'competitive with the market.' Yeah, no shit! The market for overpaid consultants and political hacks who can't get real jobs. An accounting professor, Brian Mittendorf, tried to give them cover by mumbling about a 'specialized workforce.' Specialized in what? Cashing checks and watching a construction budget balloon from 'ambitious' to 'are you fucking kidding me'? The Presidential Center was supposed to cost a third of what it now does. Someone needs to check if they're building a library or a solid-gold replica of the 'Hope' poster.
Meanwhile, the payroll and benefits have exploded from 18.5 million dollars to 50.4 million dollars in seven years. That's a metric fuckton of money that isn't going to after-school programs or whatever the hell this scam is supposedly for. It's going to line the pockets of executives while the actual workers - the ones who probably answer the phones and wipe the dust off Obama's Nobel Prize - are so fed up with rolled-back benefits and more work that they're trying to form a union. The irony is thicker than Jarrett's paycheck. The foundation lords lecture about income inequality from their ivory towers, funded by a private donation slush fund, while creating a perfect microcosm of it in their own office.
So here's the final tally: a billion-dollar monument, a 50-million-dollar annual staff party, a union drive brewing in the basement, and a CEO making more in a year than most of her former constituents will see in a decade. The only thing 'progressive' about this foundation is the progressive rate at which it hoovers up cash and spits out hypocrisy. It's a fucking disgrace.
