Which specific charities did Trump say received his presidential salary each quarter?

1. What Trump publicly said he donated each quarter

The White House announcement stated Trump’s “second-quarter salary will be donated to the Department of Education” for use on a STEM-focused camp and that his first-quarter salary had gone to the Department of the Interior/National Park Service ^[2]. The Department of the Interior subsequently described the first-quarter gift as funding restoration work at Antietam National Battlefield and noted the donation amount ($78,333 matched to $100,000 by an anonymous donor) ^[1].

2. Documentary evidence and government confirmations

The Department of the Interior issued a press release tying the president’s first-quarter salary to specific Antietam projects and to partnerships with Civil War preservation groups; that release gives concrete detail on how the funds were applied ^[1]. The White House archived release explicitly named the Department of Education as the recipient for a later quarter and described its intended use for a STEM camp ^[2].

3. Subsequent public claims and variations

In later public posts and reporting, Trump wrote that one of his paychecks “went to the White House Historical Association” to support renovations; multiple news outlets reported his statement and the claim that he continued to donate his salary ^{[3] [4] [5]}. Those later accounts echo the first-term pattern but differ in the named recipient from the earlier government releases ^{[2] [1] [3]}.

4. How media and fact-checkers framed the donations

News organizations have repeated the administrations’ statements that Trump donated his salary to government departments and projects, and some outlets pointed out historical precedents (presidents such as Kennedy and Hoover also donated salaries) while questioning a claim that he was the only president to do so ^{[4] [6]}. PolitiFact maintains a dossier on Trump’s pledge to “accept no salary” and has tracked related promises ^[7].

5. What the sources do not settle or do not mention

Available sources do not list a complete quarter-by-quarter ledger of every quarter’s recipient across all years nor provide independent accounting showing the precise disbursement trail of every quarterly check beyond the cited Antietam and Department of Education examples ^{[1] [2]}. Available sources do not mention whether all donations were direct grants to named charities rather than transfers into federal accounts or intermediary foundations (not found in current reporting).

6. Competing interpretations and potential political motives

Supporters frame these donations as keeping a campaign promise and as symbolic public service; critics frame them as political optics or question the uniqueness of the gesture given past presidents who also donated salaries ^{[4] [7]}. Commentary that calls the practice “political optics” or a “paradox” and that compares the donation totals to the president’s broader financial dealings appears in advocacy and opinion pieces ^[8], but those assessments are interpretive and not settled facts in the government releases ^{[2] [1]}.

7. Bottom line for readers

Documented, cited evidence in government and news releases shows at least two specific destinations Trump named: the Department of the Interior/National Park Service (Antietam restoration) and the Department of Education (STEM camp) ^{[1] [2]}. Later public statements and news stories add donors like the White House Historical Association for renovation work, but a complete, independently verified quarter-by-quarter accounting is not present in the current set of sources ^{[3] [4] [1]}.