The greatest donation made by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Foundation in 2023, according to recently published IRS records, was $250,000 to a new nonprofit organization that President Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden, founded last year.
According to the foundation’s Impact Report, People noted that the nonprofit organization, Women’s Wellness Space, located in Pennsylvania, is a wellness facility for women who have experienced trauma. According to the report, its founder, Ashley Biden, is a social worker who has worked with women who have served time in prison. Through the provision of services including wholesome food, exercise, meditation, and therapeutic treatments, her facility seeks to provide a community and safe haven for women affected by trauma.
Supporters of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex praised the donation, saying it goes to a worthy cause that is consistent with Meghan’s lengthy history of philanthropy, which has been centered on empowering women and girls.
But among the couple’s detractors, the Biden link has drawn more attention.While the Daily Beast noted that the Biden Administration has been accused of shielding the couple by refusing to comply with a Freedom of Information request to release the duke’s immigration records, the right-wing Daily Mail contended that the couple insisted they would maintain their political neutrality ahead of the presidential election.
When Harry applied for a visa, the right-wing research group Heritage Foundation, which wrote the contentious Project 2025 plan for the incoming Trump administration, looked through his immigration records to see if he had disclosed his history of drug use honestly. In September, a federal judge decided that Harry had a right to privacy in the case and that his documents shouldn’t be made public.
The announcement of Ashley Biden’s donation also comes as her father is facing criticism from a number of sources, including Democrats and legal professionals, for his decision to pardon her older half-brother, Hunter Biden, in a broad stroke. Hunter Biden’s convictions on tax and firearms charges, as well as any crimes against the US during the previous 11 years, were all pardoned by Biden.
Regarding the Archewell Foundation’s other charity news, its tax records revealed that they awarded $1.3 million in grants to different groups and received a $5 million donation from an unidentified source.
ArtTogether, a nonprofit organization based in Oakland that offers art activities to help immigrant and refugee communities feel more connected, was one of the beneficiaries. The Archewell Welcome Project, which funds activities for women who have recently relocated from Afghanistan, was the beneficiary of the $27,500 ArtTogether grant. According to Archewell, it sponsors 11 ongoing Welcome Projects in the US that include sewing, art, hiking, swimming, photography, storytelling, and cooking as ways to create a feeling of community.
The NAACP and groups that promote community-based journalism and mental health assistance for relief workers in Israel, Gaza, Syria, and Turkey are among the other top Archewell recipients.
But according to the tax records, the $1.3 million in grants only made up 39% of the total costs for 2023. In 2023, the foundation spent a lot more money—$1.9 million, or around 61%—on executive salaries and compensation, as well as on various administrative expenses, travel, events, legal services, advertising, and consultant payments.
Charity Watch claims that although they utilize a number of metrics to evaluate nonprofits’ efficacy, they frequently concentrate on the program expense ratio. That is, the portion of an organization’s overall budget that goes toward initiatives that help people or causes as opposed to the portion that goes on overhead, which includes management and fundraising.
Charity Navigator has stated in its 2024 Rating Methology Guide that while administrative costs are essential for effective charity operations, organizations that drastically underspend on their services and activities would probably not have as much of an influence on their philanthropic aims.
While Charity Watch stated that 75% is the ideal, the Better Business Bureau has stated that programs should account for at least 65% of expenditures. Charity Navigator uses 70% as the optimal grade and won’t award organizations points if their program expense ratio is less than 50%.
Regarding Ashley Biden’s program, the first daughter told Elle in 2023 that she returns to the Philadelphia area for her wellness center. She received her master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania before accepting positions at the Delaware Center for Justice and the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth & Their Families. Ashley Biden stated in the Elle interview that she envisioned the center, which is now open, as offering a drop-in area where women can eat a nutritious meal, use a box or treadmill, listen to guided meditation, and access therapies like EMDR and infrared saunas—both of which Ashley has found to be beneficial and would like to recommend to others.
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