Sunday, December 8, 2024

Madonna Gives $1 Mil to Her Shaky Malawi Charity, $90K to Sean Penn’s Haiti Foundation

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Madonna donated $1 million in 2014 to her Raising Malawi Foundation, a shaky group trying to improve its public persona after being linked with the cult Kabbalah Center for years.

Last year Madonna donated $1,250,000 directly to Kabbalah. This year, the $1 mil goes to Raising Malawi, which makes a lot of claims about work it’s doing in the impoverished African country from which Madonna adopted two children.

The Raising Malawi website gives little info about who’s running it, and what constitutes a board of directors. Their 2013 Form 990 just lists the singer, her manager, and accountant. The board had previously been stocked with Kabbalah Center execs and associates. At one point, millions of dollars went missing.

Madonna donates money through her tax free Ray of Light Foundation, which in 2014 also gave $89,898 to her ex husband Sean Penn’s J/P Haitian Relief Organization.

All together, Ray of Light donated $1.8 million to various groups, about $400,000 less than last year. On a positive note: Almost $450,000 went to groups from Michigan, Madonna’s home state including a boxing gym in her hometown of Traverse City. She gave $15,000, as usual, to the T.J. Martell Foundation, the record industry charity that funds cancer research. She didn’t give anything, at least through Ray of Light, to amFAR or the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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