Back in 2002, this article was printed by the Philanthropy News Digest.
Philanthropy News Digest – A service of the Foundation Center
Posted on January 15, 2002
Fannie Mae Foundation Receives $300 Million From Fannie Mae
The Washington, D.C.-based Fannie Mae Foundation has announced a $300 million contribution of common stock from Fannie Mae — a provider of financial products and services that make it possible for low-, moderate- and middle-income familiies to buy homes of their own — to fund the foundation’s mission of expanding affordable housing opportunities and strengthening neighborhoods in communities across America.
The foundation’s focus over the next five years will be to promote wealth creation by focusing its efforts on helping families prepare for and sustain homeownership and to increase the nation’s supply of affordable housing. The foundation’s programs include Building Neighborhood Assets, which concentrates on revitalization efforts in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Dallas, Newark, New Jersey, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia; and the Home Team Program, which joins National Basketball Association teams with local nonprofits to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods and provide home-buying information to help more Americans achieve the dream of homeownership. In addition, the foundation will work to fund market-based approaches to housing and community development and will continue to support homeless service providers in the Greater Washington area through its annual Help the Homeless campaign, the nation’s largest fundraiser dedicated to homelessness.
“We are proud of how the Fannie Mae Foundation has changed the landscape of housing and community development in America by toppling barriers to decent housing, wider homeownership and stronger, healthier communities,” said Fannie Mae chairman and CEO Franklin D. Raines. “This stock contribution will make the Fannie Mae Foundation, and its nonprofit partners all over America, even more of a force for positive change.
“In addition to housing and community development, the foundation’s broad focus in Washington includes supporting civic engagement, youth development, and arts and humanities programs. The foundation also has worked closely with Howard University to restore and rehabilitate homes and improve the quality of life in the LeDroit Park neighborhood.
“Fannie Mae Foundation Receives New $300 Million Contribution from Fannie Mae, Expanding Philanthropic Activity of Nation’s Largest Housing and Community Development Foundation to $1 Billion Over a Decade.” Fannie Mae Press Release 1/14/02.
FCNote: The Fannie Mae Foundation (DC) had assets of $407,269,826 and made grants totaling $33,926,500 in the year ending 12/31/99.
http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=4500090
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DON’T FORGET FRANKLIN D. RAINES was the DIRECTOR of the OFFICE of MANAGEMENT and BUDGET for Bill Clinton’s Administration.
Franklin D. Raines Connections
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ADD THIS:
Fannie Mae Shuts Down Foundation
Big Local Donor To Move In-House
By David S. Hilzenrath and Amy Joyce
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Fannie Mae said yesterday that it would shut down its foundation, one of the biggest donors to local charities and a longtime lightning rod for criticism that the company was using tax-exempt contributions to advance corporate interests.
The District-based housing finance company said it would take over the Fannie Mae Foundation’s work, and it promised to maintain or increase the overall level of giving.
Since its inception in 1979, the foundation has supported causes as varied as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a food bank for the homeless and the construction of housing in depressed neighborhoods. It has spread the Fannie Mae brand name by spending tens of millions of dollars on advertisements to educate home buyers, supported causes closely associated with Fannie Mae executives and built goodwill with potential political allies in the housing world by financing their work.
Major recipients of past foundation grants have included Harvard University, where former Fannie Mae chairman Franklin D. Raines was president of the board of overseers, and Arena Stage, a District theater where Raines’s wife, Wendy Farrow Raines, was board chairman.
Last year, the foundation gave out $61 million, including about $19 million in the District.
Its closing is part of a broader upheaval at Fannie Mae over the past few years that began with allegations of accounting manipulations, led to the replacement of much of the company’s top management and left Fannie Mae on a tighter regulatory leash.
Chief executive Daniel H. Mudd has vowed to create a new Fannie Mae and sweep away a corporate culture that he has described as arrogant.
Mudd said yesterday that moving the charity into the company was meant to allow greater coordination between Fannie Mae’s philanthropy and its business. Myriad tax rules meant to keep the foundation independent of the corporation got in the way, he said.
“This being Fannie Mae, you know I’m sure there are all sorts of conspiracy theories that go to why we might do this at this particular time,” Mudd said. “But the real answer is it’s pure and simple in order to do this in the simplest and best and most effective way.”
Mudd said the company plans to release detailed information about the grants it issues.
Some observers noted that, unlike the foundation, the company would not be under a legal obligation to show the public how it spreads its charity.
“While there may be benefits for both Fannie Mae and investors related to closing the foundation, it is highly unlikely that increased transparency and accountability is one of those benefits,” said Christine Petrovits, an assistant professor of accounting at New York University.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, issued a statement yesterday saying that he was examining whether foundations such as Fannie Mae’s engage in inappropriate political activity. Grassley raised questions a year ago as to whether Fannie Mae had abused the foundation’s tax status to skirt campaign-finance and lobbying laws.
A spokeswoman for the foundation, Cindy Yeast, declined to respond. Mudd, who chairs the foundation’s board, denied that the foundation served to promote corporate interests.
The foundation’s board , though separate from the corporation, has been chaired by Fannie Mae chief executives and populated with other company officials. The company funded the foundation with irregular contributions –– $650 million in stock since 1995, and $12.5 million in cash late last year.
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Muddy manse
Dec 17, 2009
Selling your house? Worried about having to lower the price to get it to move?
How about a $1.275 million price reduction? That’s how much former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel H. Mudd had to cut the asking price on his 11,500 square foot, six bedroom, six full bath (plus three half baths) mansion to find a buyer. Originally listed for $8.9 million on September 11, the transaction closed on December 11 for $7.625 million.
Don’t worry too much for Mr. Mudd, though. He paid $5.15 million for the place in June 2000, leaving him with a 48 percent return on his investment, excluding any renovation costs.
And even though he was booted from Fannie Mae when the government took over the housing giant in September 2008 and reportedly wasn’t paid his multi-million dollar severance package, he’s landed on his feet. New York’s Fortress Investment Group named him CEO in August.
Wondering what you could have bought from the son of the former NBC News anchor Roger Mudd?
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An educational video about the housing collapse PRIOR to the November 2008 elections:
Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?
—————————————————————-
Democrats excoriating Regulators about Fannie Mae: **A MUST WATCH VIDEO!** WATCH ENTIRE VIDEO
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End notes:
The Fannie Mae Foundation (DC) had assets of $407,269,826 in year ending 12/31/99. That is 407 MILLION, 269 THOUSAND 826 dollars. Yet only gives out $33,926,500 in grants in 1999.
Frank Raines received a “golden parachute” of $90 MILLION dollars after leaving Fannie Mae for accounting irregularities. WHERE was the Democratic outrage then?
Then the Fannie Mae Foundation receives 300 MILLION in 2002.
And even up until just before the Fannie Mae Foundation was absorbed BACK into Fannie Mae, they received $12,5 MILLION in cash.
Do any of YOU see a problem here? WHERE is the Democratic outrage about the housing collapse?
Will/or IS Fannie Mae a stealth slush fund now?
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WHO is minding the henhouse NOW?
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NOT RACIST.
NOT VIOLENT.
JUST NO LONGER SILENT.
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