Donald J. Trump Foundation
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| Formation | 1988 |
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| Founder | Donald Trump |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York |
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 Journalist Says Trump Foundation May Have Engaged In 'Self-Dealing', 37:18, September 28, 2016, Fresh Air with Terry Gross Interview with David Fahrenthold
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The Donald J. Trump Foundation is a New York-based private foundation founded and chaired by President of the United States Donald Trump. It has been a source of controversy, criticism and scrutiny. The foundation has been fined for making political contributions and admitted engaging in self-dealing practices to benefit Trump, his family, and businesses. On December 24, 2016, Trump said he intended to dissolve the foundation; as of October 2017 he has not done so.
Donald Trump established the Donald J. Trump Foundation in 1988 as a private foundation. It was founded to donate the proceeds from the book Trump: The Art of the Deal. It operated from Trump's business office in New York and has had no paid staff. The board of directors consisted of Donald Trump, his three adult children, and a Trump Organization employee. In 2015, a Trump Organization spokesperson told the New York Post that Trump made all decisions regarding the granting of Trump Foundation money. On December 24, 2016, Trump said he planned to dissolve the foundation in order to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest.
Like many other private foundations, the foundation has conducted no charitable programs of its own. Instead, it has granted money to other tax-exempt organizations. According to the foundation's IRS Form 990 filing for 2013, in making grants it did not impose on its directors any "restrictions or limitations on awards such as by geographical areas, charitable fields, kinds of institutions, or other factors".
Through 2015, Trump contributed $5.5 million to the Trump Foundation while outside donors contributed an additional $9.3 million. Since making a $35,000 gift in 2008, Trump has made no additional personal donations to the foundation.
Many of the outside donors to the foundation have done business with Trump or the Trump Organization. Several philanthropy experts noted that having a family foundation without any family money is unusual.
The top donors to the foundation from 2004 to 2014 were Vince and Linda McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). They jointly donated $5 million to the foundation after Trump appeared at WrestleMania in 2007 and 2009. The donations were reported by the Trump Foundation as coming from the WWE, but the WWE has said that the money came from Vince and Linda McMahon personally.
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