PHILANTHROPY
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Of Note:

The Clinton Foundation released its list of donors yesterday.

Players from the mining industry account for a disproportionate amount of top contributors, according to the list of donors.

But the subsequent crash in commodity prices has likely put an end to the industry's considerable largesse and placed considerable pressure on those who made charitable pledges during the good times.

In addition, Hillary Clinton's new role as secretary of state in the Barack Obama administration has also added unexpected challenges to Mr. Clinton's charitable work because of potential conflicts.

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Clinton charities take hit from mining bust

ANDY HOFFMAN
The Globe and Mail
December 19, 2008


During the heyday of the commodities boom, Lukas Lundin donated more than $1-million to former U.S. president Bill Clinton's charitable foundation.

"It was about a year ago, when the markets were flying," Mr. Lundin said in an interview yesterday when asked about the contribution that was revealed when the Clinton Foundation released its list of donors yesterday.

Through the Lundin family charity arm, Mr. Lundin soon pledged another $100-million to the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative - a separate foundation led by Mr. Clinton and Vancouver mining financier Frank Giustra. The funds were to be earmarked for development programs in Africa where the Lundins have considerable mining and oil interests.

More than a year later, however, the viability of the Lundin pledge is in doubt. The wealth of Mr. Lundin and his family trust has been decimated by the market crash and Hillary Clinton's new role as secretary of state in the Barack Obama administration has also added unexpected challenges to Mr. Clinton's charitable work because of potential conflicts.

"It is on the back burner for the time being," Mr. Lundin said of the $100-million pledge.

"For everybody's sake, it's probably better to be very careful right now," he added.

The go-go commodities boom led to an unprecedented outpouring of philanthropy from Canada's resource sector and Mr. Clinton's foundation appears to have been a major benefactor. Players from the mining industry account for a disproportionate amount of top contributors, according to the list of donors.

But the subsequent crash in commodity prices has likely put an end to the industry's considerable largesse and placed considerable pressure on those who made charitable pledges during the good times.

"If [Lukas] is pulling back in the short term that is his prerogative," Mr. Giustra said in an interview. "The world has changed and we'll have to change with the correction," he added.

Robert Disbrow, a broker at Haywood Securities, donated $1-million (U.S.) to the Clinton Foundation in 2007, at the height of the boom.

"The industry, because it was going so well, felt there was a need to be more generous with charities. That's what it boiled down to," he said.

Now Mr. Disbrow is scaling back his own giving amid the market crash.

"Certainly, what I'm giving away this year to various charities is less than last year just because things are pretty tough. I think you could say that about the whole brokerage industry and you could certainly say it about the mining industry," he said.

In part, through his personal friendship and work with Mr. Giustra, Mr. Clinton's foundation has benefited handsomely from the mining industry.

Along with Mr. Lundin and Mr. Disbrow, the head of resource-focused brokerage and investment bank Canaccord Capital, Paul Reynolds, also donated between $1-million and $5-million toward Mr. Clinton's charity endeavours.

Another notable resource name on the list is Victor Dahdaleh. Mr. Dahdaleh is the Canadian-born and London-based owner and chairman of Dadco Group, a private company that owns alumina refining and bauxite mining assets.

In March, Mr. Dahdaleh, a noted philanthropist, was hit with a lawsuit alleging bribery and a "massive, outrageous fraud" totalling hundreds of millions of dollars. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the matter. None of the allegations have been proved and Mr. Dahdaleh has vowed to fight them.

As for Mr. Lundin's flagship company Lundin Mining Corp., a recent cash crunch forced it to agree to a takeover offer from rival HudBay Minerals Inc.

Despite the rich premium offered for Lundin's battered shares, the Swedish-born resource magnate has had to endure a very public loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of personal wealth.

"It's taken a serious hit. You can easily look. Mining stocks are down 80 per cent, oil stocks are down 50 per cent. It's not that hard to see," Mr. Lundin said.

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Who's pledged what

Some notable donations to the Clinton Foundation:

$10-million to $25-million

- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
- Frank Giustra,
- Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

$5-million to $10-million

- Government of Norway,
- Michael Schumacher

$1-million to $5-million

- Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative,
- Victor Dahdaleh,
- Robert Disbrow,
- Lukas Lundin,
- Friends of Saudi Arabia,
- Lakshmi N. Mittal,
- Victor Pinchuk,
- Paul Reynolds,
- State of Kuwait,
- State of Qatar,
- Government of Brunei

$500,000 to $1-million

- Magna International Inc.,
- Soros Foundation,
- Steven Spielberg,
- Thomson Reuters

$250,000 to $500,000

- AIG Inc.,
- Michael Cooper (CEO of Dundee REIT)

Andy Hoffman

http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081219.wrmining19/BNStory/Business/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20081219.wrmining19

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The Clinton Conflict
The former president's fundraising invites trouble.

The Washington Post
Sunday, December 21, 2008; Page B06

THERE IS no getting around the uniquely difficult issues posed by the dual roles of Hillary Rodham Clinton as future secretary of state and former president Bill Clinton as the head of a foundation that raises money from foreign governments. Mr. Clinton's foundation does valuable work around the world on issues such as HIV/AIDS, climate change and economic development. Foreign governments provide critical support; Australia, Ireland, Great Britain, Sweden, Canada, France, Denmark, Norway and the Dominican Republic, among others, support the foundation's HIV/AIDS initiative, while Australia contributes to the climate change program. But Mr. Clinton's good works also fall squarely within the future domain of Ms. Clinton, and his commitment to continue to raise money for these programs while his wife is in office presents inevitable opportunities for conflict of interest and other difficulties down the road. Ms. Clinton and the future Barack Obama administration would be better served if Mr. Clinton were to direct his prodigious energies elsewhere for the duration of her service.

The incoming administration secured the disclosure of past donors to the Clinton presidential library and foundation; this was an important and necessary step. Under the memorandum of understanding negotiated between the two camps, the names of future donors will also be released, albeit only on an annual basis, which seems a rather languorous schedule in this day and age. In addition, new donations from foreign governments will be scrutinized by government ethics officers. Countries that simply re-up existing pledges will be exempt from this review; only if a foreign country chooses to "increase materially its commitment" or a new country signs on will the foundation "share such countries and the circumstances of the anticipated contribution with the State Department designated agency ethics official for review."

But however worthy the cause or uncontroversial the foreign government, it strikes us that such fundraising by the former president presents an unavoidable conflict. What is the standard for the ethics official to apply? Doesn't spurning a proffered donation from a foreign government risk creating its own diplomatic problems? What happens when Secretary Clinton, visiting Country X to press for, say, a climate change agreement, is informed by the prime minister that he's just written her husband a $10 million check for that cause? What about gifts from foreign governments seeking trade concessions or approval to purchase military equipment? Even if Ms. Clinton is not influenced by gifts to her husband's charity, the appearance of a conflict is unavoidable. The better approach would be to allow existing commitments to go forward but to forswear any new ones.

Moreover, the memorandum of understanding does not appear to contemplate any prior review of contributions by foreign individuals or corporations, or by U.S. companies or individuals with overseas entanglements. So consider -- because it already happened -- the case of a wealthy investor who is seeking business opportunities in, say, Kazakhstan. He gives millions to the Clinton foundation, visits the country with the former president and obtains the sought-after contract. No one in the Obama administration will vet such a gift in advance; the public will learn of it only with the yearly disclosure. The new administration is buying itself a heap of potential trouble with this arrangement.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/20/AR2008122001647.html
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