Obama Foundation lands donations from Spielberg; Eychaner foundation and ‘Africa’s richest man’

Former President Barack Obama is raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the proposed construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park and for an expanding number of domestic and international programs.

WASHINGTON – The Barack Obama Foundation disclosed on Monday it accepted donations of more than $1 million from the foundation controlled by Aliko Dangote, a Nigerian Forbes said was “Africa’s richest man” and Chicago’s Alphawood Foundation, bankrolled by businessman Fred Eychaner.

The foundation released an updated list of names of contributors — literally only the names, no other identifiers — and only the general range of contributions pledged or already delivered.

• All the contributors were in the second quarter of 2019 except for Alphawood, which was mistakenly left off the first quarter list, with the money attributed to Eychaner, who personally is in the million dollar plus Obama Foundation donor category from earlier gifts. Eychaner is one of the biggest Democratic donors in the U.S.

The Chicago Sun-Times has learned that Dangote is donating $5 million and Alphawood gave a lump sum of $2.5 million.

“This is an initial gift,” said Alphawood executive director Jim McDonough, with more potential contributions “likely.” He added, the “only condition on our gift was it had to be used to build the Presidential Center in Chicago.”

Former President Barack Obama is raising hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for the proposed construction of the Obama Presidential Center in historic Jackson Park and for an expanding number of ambitious domestic and international programs.

The foundation in the past days sponsored the “Obama Foundation Leaders: Africa program” in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Dangote, the Chairman and CEO of the Dangote Group, a collection of an assortment of business enterprises, traveled to Johannesburg in July, 2018 for Obama’s 2018 “Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture.” Dangote also was on a panel at the Obama Foundation’s 2018 Africa summit titled “Innovating for the next generation.”

As the Obama Foundation matures, some donors, such as Alphawood, are giving restricted gifts. Other contributors may want to underwrite programs around the globe but not pay for the Obama complex in Chicago.

Eychaner, the board chairman of Newsweb Corp. with a deep interest in architecture, in 2016 was a member of the advisory team helping Obama select the architects for the Obama Center.

There is no date for groundbreaking. The city won a federal lawsuit seeking to block building the center in Jackson Park; that decision is on appeal. Before groundbreaking, a long-running federal review must also be completed.

Other givers of at least $1 million in April, May and June include:

• Chicago’s MacArthur Foundation, in another restricted gift, pledged a $5 million grant for the Chicago Public Library Branch at the Obama Center.

• James Crane, the owner and chairman of the Houston Astros and his wife, Whitney Wheeler Crane.

• Kapor Center for Social Impact, where the co-chairs are Freada Kapor Klein and her husband, Mitch Kapor. They are partners at Kapor Capital in Oakland, Calif. and donors to Democratic candidates and causes.

• Laura DeBonis and her husband, Scott Nathan, who is a private equity investor and a former official in the Obama State Department.

• Hollywood power couple Steve Spielberg and Kate Capshaw’s Wunderkinder Foundation surpassed the $1 million donation mark. In April, 2018, the Wunderkinder Foundation gave between $10,000 to $100,000 and added more money in the second quarter. Spielberg and Capshaw were among the major donors for the portraits of Obama and former first lady Michelle at the National Portrait Gallery.

• Chicago’s Polsky Foundation; Michael Polsky, the founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Invenergy has been a major Obama donor. Obama appointed him to United States Holocaust Memorial Council and invited Polsky and wife Tanya to the final state dinner of his administration in October, 2016.

• Microsoft Chairman John W. Thompson and wife Sandra.

Those giving or pledging between $10,000 and $100,000 include:

• Luci Baines Johnson, the daughter of former President Lyndon B. Johnson and former first lady Lady Bird Johnson and her husband, Ian Turpin.

• Craig Newmark Philanthropies; Newmark is the founder of Craig’s List.

• Evanston’s Paul Finnegan, the co-founder and CEO of Madison Dearborn Partners.

• The Philip and Tammy Murphy Family Foundation; Murphy is the Democratic governor of New Jersey.

• Chicago’s Andy Schapiro, Obama’s ambassador to the Czech Republic and his wife, Tamar Newberger; the couple were major Obama presidential fundraisers.