The acting chief executive of the Clinton Foundation is acknowledging the global philanthropy made mistakes in how it disclosed its donors amid growing scrutiny as Hillary Rodham Clinton opens her presidential campaign. In a blog posting today, Maura Pally defended the foundation's work and reaffirmed its commitment to transparency, describing its policies on donor disclosure and contributions from foreign governments as "stronger than ever." Still, Pally said the foundation expected to refile some of its tax forms, following a voluntary external review, because it had "mistakenly combined" government grants and donations. She said the foundation would "remedy" any errors but stressed the total revenue was reported accurately and that grants were properly broken out on audited statements on its website.
"Yes, we made mistakes, as many organizations of our size do, but we are acting quickly to remedy them and have taken steps to ensure they don't happen in the future," she said. Pally also described the foundation's work with the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, which she said received funding from a separate organization in Canada. She said that partnership does not disclose its donors because under Canadian law they're not disclosed without prior permission from each donor. "This is hardly an effort on our part to avoid transparency," she said. Since announcing her run for president, Clinton has sought to dismiss questions about financial support of her family charity and allegations of undue influence as "distractions and attacks" by Republicans seeking to discredit her. (More Clinton Foundation stories.)