The Clinton Foundation will no longer accept foreign and corporate donations if Hillary Clinton is elected president - and its Global Initiative is being axed regardless of the outcome.

Former President Bill Clinton tells staff members on Thursday that it will also hold its final Clinton Global Initiative meeting in September in New York, regardless of the outcome of the November election.

The former president made the announcement in an afternoon meeting with foundation staff, according to participants who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity ahead of the formal announcement.

Read my lips, no more initiative: The former president made the announcement in an afternoon meeting with foundation staff, Associate Press revealed

Bill Clinton said if Hillary Clinton wins the White House, the family's foundation would only accept contributions from U.S. citizens and independent charities.

The former president, who turns 70 on Friday, said he will resign from the board, and the foundation will only accept contributions from U.S. citizens and independent charities.

It will no longer take money from any foreign entity, government, foreign or domestic corporations, or corporate charities.

At the staff meeting, Clinton said he and his daughter, Chelsea, did not face any external pressure to make the changes, but wanted to avoid any potential issues or second guessing for Hillary Clinton should she move into the White House.

The future of the Clinton Foundation has been one of the overarching questions shadowing Clinton's campaign.

The sprawling charitable network, founded after Bill Clinton left office in 2001, has raised more than $2 billion for initiatives focused on global health, climate change, economic development and increasing opportunities for women and girls.

While Hillary Clinton stepped down from its board after launching her 2016 campaign, her husband and daughter have remained in leadership roles, prompting questions about the ability of the organization to continue its work should Clinton win the White House.

Some of the group's funding has come from foreign donations and political donors to the Clinton family. Money accepted from countries such as Saudi Arabia drew scrutiny from both Republicans and Democrats early in Clinton's presidential bid.

When Clinton served as secretary of state, the foundation reached an agreement with the Obama administration to prohibit, and in some cases curtail, foreign donations to its programs.

But questions persist about the level of influence foundation donors had at the State Department. That criticism intensified after emails from Clinton's time at the department were made public as part of a lawsuit.

After she left the State Department, the foundation resumed accepting donations from overseas. Bowing to pressure in April 2015, the group announced that it would restrict donations to only six Western nations and disclose its donors more frequently.

Goodbye to all that: The Clinton Global Initiative, which had been held annually since 2004 to bring together donors and causes is axed forever after its scheduled September meeting

Members of the Clinton Foundation board met earlier in the day to ratify the changes.

In September, the former president will convene his 12th and final Clinton Global Initiative, an annual meeting that has included Obama, foreign heads of state, corporate leaders and celebrities to discuss commitments aimed at addressing poverty, health care, education, climate change and other topics.

The foundation has estimated that commitments by its members have improved the lives of more than 430 million people in more than 180 countries.