Election 2016

The “Fiorina Foundation” Doesn’t Exist and Her Campaign Didn’t Know It

Written by SK Ashby

Carly Fiorina claims she served as chairman of the charitable Fiorina Foundation after being disgraced at Hewlett-Packard, but that so-called foundation is so secretive Fiorina's presidential campaign didn't know about it.

It's secretive in the sense that it isn't real.

What Fiorina calls the Fiorina Foundation is in fact the name of the account she and her husband, Frank, have with The Ayco Charitable Foundation, a so-called “donor-advised fund,” through which they distribute undisclosed sums to undisclosed recipients at undisclosed times.

This seemed to be news to Fiorina’s own campaign, the deputy manager of which, Sarah Isgur Flores, repeatedly assured me that the Fiorina Foundation is a private foundation before following up to say that she had made a mistake.

Olivia Nuzzi writing for The Daily Beast details the exact nature of Fiorina's fake foundation but, suffice to say, it's possible her donor-advised fund hasn't actually donated a single penny to a charity. Fiorina's campaign refused to provide a list of charities she has donated to through the fund which has no payout obligation.

What we do know for sure is the Ayco Charitable Foundation has made donations to Planned Parenthood.

In 2011, 2012, and 2013 combined, Ayco distributed $467,275 to various Planned Parenthoods. In other words, Fiorina has entrusted her money with an organization that funnelled nearly half a million dollars into Planned Parenthood.

If Fiorina's money made its way to Planned Parenthood, that would explain why she does not want to disclose which charities her money has been passed on to, if any at all. On the other hand, wouldn't her unhinged opposition to Planned Parenthood behoove her to prove that she hasn't donated to the organization in the past before she decided to run for president, for Pete's sake?

We may never know the true extent of Fiorina's hypocrisy but I think we know enough.