The Obama Presidential Center’s cost has hit $1 billion while nearly half the foundation’s reported staff earn six-figure pay, and rank-and-file workers are now pushing to unionize over rolled-back benefits.

Fox News Digital reported that the Obama Foundation’s 2025 tax filing listed 172 employees making more than $100,000, out of 342 reported workers. That is roughly half the workforce. CEO Valerie Jarrett’s total pay reached $771,000.

The same filing shows the foundation’s payroll and benefits bill climbed to $50.4 million in 2025, up from $18.5 million in 2018. Revenue last year ran about $159 million, nearly $151 million of it from contributions and grants. Net assets exceeded $1 billion.

Those numbers arrive as the Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side opened after years of construction. The sprawling 19.3-acre campus sits on publicly owned parkland in Jackson Park. The price tag nearly tripled from the original estimate. Public funds also backed infrastructure improvements around the site, even as the foundation maintains that construction was privately funded and operating costs are covered by revenues and private donations.

Rank-and-file staff have organized as Obama Workers United with AFSCME Council 31. Visitor services, cleaning crews, museum and technology workers, and educational and global programs staff are among those involved. In a public letter they described mounting pressure on the floor while leadership pay stayed high.

"Amidst increasing workloads we have seen our benefits rolled back and support from leadership to be minimal,"

the workers wrote. They urged foundation leaders to respect the right to organize and to refrain from spending on anti-union lawyers, messaging, or meetings. Experienced colleagues have left, they said, leaving more work for those who remain.

Jarrett and Obama-era aides top the pay list

Jarrett, one of former President Barack Obama’s closest advisors and a former senior White House official, has led the foundation since 2021. Her pay started near $581,000 that year, rose to $740,000 in 2022, held that level through 2024, reached nearly $755,000 in 2025, and was listed at a $771,000 total in the reporting. The increase from 2024 ran about $15,500.

Other high earners include Robbin Cohen at approximately $666,000. Cohen previously led Pritzker Realty Group, founded by billionaire Democratic donor and former Obama commerce secretary Penny Pritzker. Christina Tchen, former chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama, received about $431,000. Michael Strautmanis, a former Obama campaign and White House aide, collected roughly $404,000. Laura Lucas Magnuson, a former White House communications official, took home about $396,000. Ammar Rizki, once Cook County’s chief financial officer, received approximately $400,000.

Breitbart noted the same compensation gap: Obama allies and executives drawing large salaries while lower-level staff cite benefit cuts and heavy workloads as they seek union representation.

Emily Bittner, the foundation’s vice president of communications, defended the structure.

"The foundation pays our employees rates that are competitive with the market,"

Bittner said. She added that the foundation has more than 500 employees worldwide, roughly 300 of them based at the center. On executive pay she stated:

"The Board of Directors uses comparability data and a compensation consultant to review and approve the compensation of the CEO, officers and key employees on an annual basis,"

The foundation also pointed to higher top pay at other large nonprofits, citing recent filings that showed the Getty Trust president and CEO near $2 million, the Rockefeller Foundation president at $1.7 million, and the Mellon Foundation president at $1.5 million.

Other presidential foundations show lower shares of six-figure staff

A review of comparable filings put the Obama Foundation well ahead of its peers on the share of workers clearing $100,000. The George W. Bush Presidential Center stood at 37 percent. The Carter Center was at 29 percent. The Clinton Foundation hit 23 percent. The Reagan Foundation registered 13 percent. The George & Barbara Bush Foundation came in at 10 percent, according to their 2024 tax filings.

CEO pay at those organizations also trailed Jarrett’s figure in most cases. The Reagan Foundation listed about $735,000. The George W. Bush Presidential Center reported $661,000. The Carter Center showed $531,000 for fiscal years ending in 2025. The George & Barbara Bush Foundation listed $426,600. The Clinton Foundation reported $425,000 in 2024.

Brian Mittendorf, an accounting professor at Ohio State University who specializes in nonprofit finances, told Fox News Digital the high share of six-figure salaries is atypical for a standard charity yet less surprising for a think-tank-style operation.

"That's clearly a higher percentage than your average nonprofit,"

Mittendorf said. He continued that the foundation is “expertise heavy” and “very heavy on, like, the think tank side,” so pay would look different from a local food bank. He added that many employees likely have outside opportunities that justify the levels, and that Jarrett’s compensation is “not an unusual amount” for a CEO at an organization of this size, even if some critics believe nonprofit pay should stay more modest than private-sector rates.

The foundation’s own statement on the union drive struck a collaborative tone.

"We are deeply committed to the fundamental right of workers to organize and make their voices heard,"

it said, adding that as staff explore representation the organization approaches the process “with immense gratitude for their contributions, deep respect for unions, and a sincere commitment to working collaboratively with our partners in labor.”

Public parkland and taxpayer-backed infrastructure draw fire

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Bob Grogan, a longtime critic of the foundation’s use of public parkland, framed the pay structure in sharper terms.

"The Obama Center is another far-left political operation that acts as a non-profit while using taxpayer dollars to make Barack Obama's inner circle rich,"

Grogan said. The campus occupies 19.3 acres of publicly owned land in Jackson Park. Public money has supported surrounding infrastructure even while the foundation stresses private funding for the building itself and private support for operations. The 2025 filing showed only about $14.2 million in reported endowment funds at year-end, against more than $1 billion in net assets and a nine-figure annual revenue stream.

That contrast sits alongside other recent friction tied to the project, including an Obama Presidential Center subcontractor dispute that forced a firm to close and lay off workers over millions in contested payments.

Jarrett oversaw the final years of construction after taking the CEO post in 2021. The 2025 tax filing covers the year that ended nearly six months before the center’s June opening. Spending rose as the foundation expanded leadership and civic programs and raced to finish the campus. Former White House and campaign hands now occupy several of the highest-paid seats.

Similar patterns of Obama-era figures landing prominent post-administration roles have surfaced elsewhere, from Sally Yates taking a high-profile campus review assignment to other allies remaining active in public fights long after leaving office.

Workers want bargaining power while brass keep market-rate pay

The union drive covers staff who keep the museum, technology, education, and visitor operations running. Their letter focuses on workloads, benefit changes, and what they call minimal leadership support. The foundation answers that pay is market-competitive and that the board relies on comparability data and outside consultants for top officers.

Mittendorf’s analysis leaves the core tension in plain view. A nonprofit with think-tank ambitions can defend high salaries by pointing to private-sector alternatives. Rank-and-file employees still see benefits trimmed and colleagues depart while nearly half the reported workforce clears six figures and the CEO approaches three-quarters of a million dollars. Other presidential foundations run leaner on the share of high earners.

Readers tracking Obama-world news have also followed lighter items such as the death of the Obama family dog Sunny, yet the foundation’s tax numbers and labor unrest land in a harder category: large sums, public land, and a workforce split between well-paid executives and staff seeking a union contract.

Another Obama-linked storyline involved an advocate once honored by the Obama White House who later faced serious criminal charges, a reminder that prestige affiliations do not erase later accountability questions. The foundation’s current fight is institutional rather than personal, but the same demand for straight numbers applies.

Clinton-era allies continue to surface in political media as well, including Hillary Clinton’s recent podcast push aimed at midterm messaging. The Obama Foundation story stays closer to the ledger: who gets paid what, who works the floor, and who supports the campus around a presidential center that now carries a billion-dollar label.

The 2025 filing, the worker letter, and the peer comparisons leave little ambiguity. Top aides from the Obama years draw compensation that rivals or exceeds most other presidential nonprofits. The center cost far more than first projected. Public parkland and public infrastructure dollars form part of the backdrop. And the people who clean the floors, run the exhibits, and staff the programs say their benefits have moved the other direction.

Taxpayers and donors who support big legacy projects deserve books that match the speeches. When the brass thrives and the rank-and-file organize, the gap is not a branding problem. It is a governance one.