The Clintons reportedly used their charity to give $2 million to friends' company

Clinton reportedly used charity money to help a friend&#039;s company.

(Image credit: LUKE FRAZZA/AFP/Getty Images)

published 13 May 2016

One of the Clinton Global Initiative's latest donations reportedly went to helping out Bill and Hillary Clinton's friends, The Wall Street Journal reports. While the charitable organization usually aims to give money to charities and nongovernmental organizations to serve its mission of helping to solve the world's problems, in September 2010, the tax-exempt charity committed $2 million to Energy Pioneer Solutions, Inc., a for-profit organization. The company, which is committed to delivering "energy savings to communities in rural America," also happens to be partly owned by people with close ties to the Clintons, The Wall Street Journal notes, including "a current and former Democratic official and a close friend of former President Bill Clinton."

Apparently, the company was placed on the agenda for a September 2010 conference of the Clinton Global Initiative at Bill Clinton's "urging." Clinton also reportedly "personally endorsed" the company for a federal grant to then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Energy Pioneer Solutions ended up receiving an $812,000 Energy Department grant.

This all points to the possibility that the Clinton Global Initiative may have been acting in someone's private interest, as opposed to in the public interest, as the Internal Revenue Service mandates that tax-exempt charitable organizations do. A Clinton Foundation spokesman says that the commitment was actually an instance of "mission-driven investing…in and by for-profit companies," which he said "is a common practice in the broader philanthropic space, as well as among CGI commitments."