May 14--Six wealthy donors and foundations gave a total of $1.84 million last year to the nonprofit Barack Obama Foundation, which is preparing to build his presidential center on Chicago's South Side.
The Gill Foundation of Colorado gave $347,000, followed by the Sacks Family Foundation of Illinois, at $333,334.
Two couples from New York, Lise Strickler and Mark Gallogly and Marilyn and Jim Simons, gave $330,000 each.
David and Beth Shaw, also of New York, contributed $250,000. ImpactAssets, which is headquartered in Maryland, likewise gave a quarter-million dollars.
The major donors, several of whom were generous givers to Obama's political campaigns, appear on the nonprofit foundation's 2015 tax return, made public Friday.
A look at the big givers:
--Tim Gill, who made a fortune founding the software firm Quark, started the Denver-based Gill Foundation, which supports the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and people with HIV/AIDS.
--Michael Sacks, chairman and CEO of the investment firm GCM Grosvenor Capital Management, is, according to records, president of the Highland Park foundation that bears his name. A close ally of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Sacks sits on the Obama Foundation's volunteer board.
--Gallogly is co-founder and managing principal of Centerbridge Partners, which focuses on private equity and credit investing. He has served on Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and his Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
--Jim Simons, whose net worth is estimated to be $15.5 billion, is the founder of a hedge fund firm, Renaissance Technologies, Forbes says.
--Shaw, also on Forbes billionaires list, is worth an estimated $5 billion and, according to the magazine, is a pioneering quantitative trader in the hedge fund industry. He founded D.E. Shaw Co..
--ImpactAssets, in Bethesda, Md., promotes investments with social, environmental and financial impact.
Some of the givers in 2015 also donated to the foundation in the previous year.
The Obama Foundation, on the South Side at 5235 S. Harper Court, periodically releases information about large donors but gives their contributions only in broad dollar ranges. Friday's release offers greater clarity about who is bankrolling the massive project.
