Report: Obama Allies at His Foundation Get Six-Figure Pay While 'Overworked' Rank-and-File Seek to Unionize

The Obama Foundation appears to have an income inequality problem, with the former president’s political allies enjoying six-figure salaries while low-paid workers are fighting for union representation.

That’s the conclusion of an exclusive report by Fox News Digital, which tracked the top salary of CEO Valerie Jarrett at $771,000, a number of others in the half-a-million-dollars-a-year range and nearly 200 more pulling in six-figure salaries.

According to Fox:

The workplace disparity comes to light just as Fox News Digital reported that the long-delayed Obama Presidential Center’s price tag hit $1 billion — nearly triple the original estimate for the Chicago facility. The Obama Foundation, former President Barack Obama’s private nonprofit, reported 172 employees receiving more than $100,000 in salary in its 2025 tax filing — roughly half its 342 reported employees.

Jarrett, one of former President Barack Obama’s closest advisors and a former senior White House official, “has led the Obama Foundation since 2021, overseeing the final years of construction of the Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side.”

Jarrett is one of the non-profit’s highest-paid executives with “previous ties to the Obama White House or campaign,” according to the outlet.

Approximate reported top salaries in the 2025 tax filing include:

• Christina Tchen, former chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama — $431,000.
• Michael Strautmanis, a former Obama campaign and White House aide — $404,000.
• Laura Lucas Magnuson, a former White House communications official — $396,000.
• Robbin Cohen, former real estate executive of Gov. JB Pritzker family — $666,000
• Ammar Rizki, former Cook County chief financial officer — $400,000.

“The Foundation pays our employees rates that are competitive with the market,” Emily Bittner, the Obama Foundation’s vice president of communications, told Fox News Digital. “We have more than 500 employees worldwide, roughly 300 of whom are based at the Center.”

However, Ohio State University accounting professor Brian Mittendorf, who specializes in nonprofit finances, told the news outlet that the percentage of employees earning more than $100,000 was striking compared to typical not-for-profit organizations.

“That’s clearly higher percentage than your average nonprofit,” Mittendorf told Fox News Digital. “But here we’re dealing with a nonprofit that’s probably very expertise heavy. It’s very heavy on like the think tank side. And as you look at a think tank, it would look very differently than say a local food bank.”

While the professor apparently offered a possible explanation for the higher salaries, the news outlet also reported the Obama foundation was an outlier compared to five other presidential nonprofits, starting with former presidents Jimmy Carter through George W. Bush, according to their tax filings.

The percentages of employees with $100,000 packages or more in those presidential centers were around 25 percent or below, with the exception of George W. Bush’s at 37 percent.

Fox also compared CEO salaries and found Jarrett’s comparable to the Reagan Foundation’s at $735,000, which includes overseeing the former president’s iconic library in Southern California, but well above other presidential foundation CEOs, which are more in the half-million range.

Meanwhile, “rank-and-file” employees are pushing to unionize, Fox reported. They allege rolled-back benefits and mounting workloads as well as “deteriorating conditions” that have driven experienced colleagues to leave, resulting in more work for those who remain, according to the outlet.

“Amidst increasing workloads we have seen our benefits rolled back and support from leadership to be minimal,” the workers wrote in a public letter, cited by Fox.

Not unexpectedly, some Republicans also took issue with the salaries.

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Bob Grogan in the past criticized the foundation’s use of public parkland for a private enterprise. He is no less critical of the salary revelations.

“The Obama Center is another far-left political operation that acts as a non-profit while using taxpayer dollars to make Barack Obama’s inner circle rich,” Grogan told Fox News Digital.

The Obama Foundation, however, maintains its construction and operational costs are paid for by revenues and private donations, though infrastructure improvements surrounding the center’s large campus were paid for by taxpayers.

Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.