Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C Whitman Charitable Foundation
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| Founded | 2006 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Meg Whitman, Griffith R. Harsh |
| Type | Private foundation |
| Location | |
Key people | Trustees Meg Whitman, Griffith R. Harsh |
| Ayco Company, L.P., a Goldman Sachs Company, is the administrator | |
The Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C Whitman Charitable Foundation are a Saratoga Springs, New York private foundation managed by Griffith R. Harsh and Meg Whitman.[1] The Telluride, CO-based couple, Whitman, the former eBay CEO, and her husband, a Stanford neurosurgeon, formed the foundation by donating 300,000 shares of eBay stock in the last weeks of 2006.[2] In 2007, the first operational year, the foundation made charitable contributions totaling US$125,000 with $100,000 going to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), assets for the same time period were reported as US$48 million.[1][2] The foundation also invested US$4 million in offshore hedge funds, $3 million in Cayman Island and $1 million in Ireland.[2] Tax and foundation experts say young foundations often give very little away in "their infancy", but the foundation will face penalties if it doesn't give away "five percent of the average annual assets" during 2008.[2]
The foundation became a point of scrutiny during the 2010 California gubernatorial election, especially during the Republican primary when Whitman's campaign was presenting itself as conservative on various issues and her foundation's donations were shown to be in tension with her stated positions.[2] Ultimately she became the Republican candidate for the gubernatorial election. The foundation was also brought up in the governor debates when she started the foundation "supports higher education and health care" when asked what higher good she was doing with her wealth.[3]
The couple is the trustees and the foundation is administered by Ayco Company, L.P., a Goldman Sachs company.[4] Whitman was "paid an estimated $475,000 as a member of the board" and Goldman Sachs has been tied to controversies around the subprime mortgage crisis and was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission.[5]
2008
For the foundation's second year they lost about $27 million, mostly in eBay stock.[6] The biggest donation of 2008, $1.15 million, went to a campaign to protect 572 acres of meadows and wetlands outside the resort town Telluride, Colorado, where she and her husband own a condo, valued at $4.8 million, a dude ranch valued at $18 million and 847 acres surrounding a mountain lake that they purchased for $16 million in 2009.[3] The campaign was to prevent the land from being developed into condos and a golf course.[3]
The couple donated an additional 500,000 shares of eBay stock to the foundation, which they valued at the time at more than $8.8 million.[7]