What charities did the Trump Foundation support before it was dissolved?

1. A long list: Hundreds of recipients and the broad pattern of giving

Publicly available grant lists and journalistic reconstructions show the Trump Foundation distributed donations to hundreds of organizations over its operating years, with totals reported in the millions. One analysis counted over 400 charities receiving grants between 2001 and 2014 and totaled roughly $10.9 million in distributions, only a portion of which (about $2.8 million) came from Donald Trump personally; other reporting cited counts ranging from several hundred to over 700 distinct recipients and a cumulative distribution approaching $19 million in some accounts ^{[1] [5]}. The donations covered healthcare institutions, youth programs, social‑service providers, and local charities, but public attention has focused both on sizable mainstream beneficiaries like Dana‑Farber and Operation Smile and on numerous smaller local nonprofits that received modest grants ^{[2] [6]}.

2. Specific high‑profile beneficiaries named repeatedly in records

Multiple analyses and reporting converge on a set of repeatedly named, high‑profile recipients. These include national and regional entities such as the Police Athletic League, United Way chapters, Dana‑Farber Cancer Institute, Operation Smile, the United Negro College Fund, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (the latter through events tied to the Eric Trump Foundation), as well as cultural institutions like the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Public filings and media reconstructions list these organizations among those receiving grants of varying sizes, sometimes in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, and other times as part of routine, smaller philanthropic gifts ^{[2] [4] [7]}.

3. What the settlement and post‑closure findings added to the record

A 2019 court ruling and settlement required remediation payments and highlighted a subset of charities that were specifically named as victims of the foundation’s misconduct: Army Emergency Relief, the Children’s Aid Society, Citymeals‑on‑Wheels, Give an Hour, Martha’s Table, the United Negro College Fund, the United Way of the National Capital Area, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Each of those eight charities was identified in the settlement process and tied to a specific dollar figure in the court‑ordered payments, which serves as an authoritative footnote to the broader donation history and the legal conclusion that improper use of foundation funds had occurred ^{[8] [7]}.

4. Overlap, family foundations, and concerns about self‑dealing

Record reviews and investigative reporting describe both legitimate philanthropic giving and interlocking transfers involving family foundations and payments that benefited for‑profit entities tied to the Trump family. The Eric Trump Foundation, for example, has been documented raising substantial sums for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through annual events, while separate reporting identified instances where monies were routed in ways that produced revenue for the Trump Organization or were re‑donated to charities with family connections. These patterns informed legal scrutiny and were central to allegations of self‑dealing that underpinned the dissolution and settlement process ^{[4] [3]}.

5. How to read the record: breadth vs. specific misconduct findings

The foundation’s record shows both broad charitable activity and legally significant instances of misuse. While hundreds of organizations received grants—ranging from national health institutions to local social‑service groups and even some conservative organizations after 2010—the courts ultimately found enough improper conduct to require remediation and dissolution. That dual reality explains why the donor list is long and includes many reputable nonprofits, while enforcement actions focused on specific transactional abuses and remedial payments to a short list of named charities as part of the settlement ^{[1] [8] [7]}.