What does it take to get a hefty donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation? Host an event at its own Mar-a-Lago Club.

The Trump Foundation made large donations to a number of organizations, around the same time those charities moved their annual large events to the president’s posh Florida golf club, according to the Palm Beach Post.

In fact, since 2008, nearly all of the $706,000 donated by the foundation went to charities that hosted expensive fundraisers at the Palm Beach resort where the president frequently visits on the taxpayer’s dime and hosts world dignitaries, the newspaper found.

For instance, the Trump Foundation donated $21,000 to the Salvation Army in 2015, the same year the charity decided to move its extravagant event to golf club from the competing Palm Beach ballroom, The Breakers. The person who organized the event told the Palm Beach Post the donation came as “a surprise” and was not given as a quid pro quo.


The West Palm Beach senior care charity MorseLife Foundation received a $25,000 donation from the foundation in 2012, the after it moved its annual dinner dance to Mar-a-Lago. And the foundation gave $101,500 donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the year after the charity moved its event to the president’s resort.

The Trump Foundation’s donations are the subject of a New York Attorney General lawsuit filed on June 13, which alleges Trump’s children Eric, Donald Jr., and Ivanka — who has a role as a senior adviser in the White House — used the foundation to promote Trump-owned businesses and the president’s campaign, a violation of IRS rules, the Palm Beach Post reported.

Trump has also been accused of using his position as president to benefit his family’s real estate enterprises on a number of occasions. The president has refused to divest from his businesses.

Other charities that hosted events at Mar-a-Lago and benefited from the Trump Foundation’s generosity around the same time were the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, The Palm Beach Police Foundation, the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation, the Palm Beach Zoo, and Caron Treatment Centers, among others.