The Obama Foundation reported 342 employees in its 2025 tax filing, with 172 earning more than $100,000, according to a review by Fox News Digital. CEO Valerie Jarrett received $771,000, the filing showed. The Foundation’s current workforce is larger: its communications vice president, Emily Bittner, said the nonprofit has more than 500 employees worldwide, about 300 of them based at the Obama Presidential Center. The organization did not provide an updated breakdown of salaries.
Jarrett has led the Foundation since 2021. Her reported compensation rose from about $581,000 in that year to $740,000 in 2022, remained at that level through 2024, and increased to nearly $755,000 in 2025 before reaching the reported $771,000 figure. Other highly compensated employees included Robbin Cohen, at about $666,000; Christina Tchen, a former chief of staff to Michelle Obama, at about $431,000; Michael Strautmanis, a former Obama campaign and White House aide, at about $404,000; and former White House communications official Laura Lucas Magnuson, at about $396,000. Former Cook County CFO Ammar Rizki received about $400,000.
The filing put the Foundation’s 2025 payroll and benefits costs at $50.4 million, up from $18.5 million in 2018. Revenue was about $159 million, including nearly $151 million in contributions and grants. The Foundation’s reported endowment funds totaled about $14.2 million at the end of 2025; its net assets exceeded $1 billion, according to the material cited in the report.
Bittner said the board reviews compensation for the chief executive, officers and key employees annually, using comparison data and a compensation consultant. She also said the Foundation pays rates competitive with the market. The organization pointed to compensation at other large charitable institutions, including higher reported pay for leaders at the Getty Trust, Rockefeller Foundation and Mellon Foundation. The cited report noted that the Getty Trust has a multibillion-dollar endowment, substantially larger than the Obama Foundation’s.
Brian Mittendorf, an Ohio State University accounting professor who studies nonprofit finances, said the share of Foundation employees earning six figures was higher than at a typical nonprofit. He cautioned that comparisons depend on an organization’s work, describing the Foundation as reliant on specialized personnel and saying its staffing profile may differ from that of a local food bank. Mittendorf characterized Jarrett’s pay as not unusual for a chief executive at an organization of this size, while noting that high nonprofit executive compensation can draw criticism from people who expect the sector to pay more modestly.
Fox News Digital’s comparison with other presidential organizations found that about 37% of employees at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, 29% at the Carter Center, 23% at the Clinton Foundation, 13% at the Reagan Foundation and 10% at the George & Barbara Bush Foundation earned more than $100,000, based on the latest filings available to that review. Those filings were for 2024, while the Obama Foundation figure was drawn from its 2025 filing. The same report said Jarrett’s compensation exceeded the CEO pay reported by five other presidential foundations, although the comparison used filings from different fiscal years.
The compensation figures emerged amid continued attention to the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The source report said its cost had reached $1 billion, nearly three times its original estimate. The 19.3-acre campus is in Jackson Park on publicly owned parkland. The Foundation says construction was privately funded, while public spending has supported infrastructure improvements around the site. The center opened in June, according to the report; the Foundation’s 2025 filing covers a period ending nearly six months before that opening.
At the same time, employees are seeking union representation through Obama Workers United, organized with AFSCME Council 31. The group includes workers in visitor services, cleaning, museum and technology roles, and educational and global programs. In a public letter, workers said workloads had risen, benefits had been reduced and leadership support was inadequate. They also asked the Foundation not to use money for anti-union lawyers, messaging or meetings.
The Foundation said it respects employees’ right to organize and make their voices heard, and said it intends to work collaboratively as staff consider union representation. The workers’ concerns and the Foundation’s response were reported by Fox News Digital; the supplied material does not describe a completed union vote or an outcome.
