World Affairs Council of Oregon Paid Hillary Clinton $250,000 to Speak Last Year

WWeek:

<img src="http://www.wweek.com/portland/imgs/media.images/23649/hillaryclinton.t2.jpg"/>

Among the many lucrative speeches Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has made since resigning as U.S. secretary of state in 2013, few paid better than an April 8, 2014, address Clinton made in Portland to the World Affairs Council of Oregon.

That speech, according to federal filings the New York Times reported last week, paid Clinton $250,000.

That's a lot of money by any standard, but it's particularly hefty in the context of the World Affairs Council's budget, which for 2014 was just a little over $1.3 million.

The council's international speaker series accounts for most of its financial activity and in spite of Clinton's compensation, that effort in 2014 was solidly in the black, according to the organization's tax return: The speakers series had expenses of $621,000 but brought in revenues of $847,000.

For all of 2014, the World Affairs Council took in $106,000 more than it spent. 

Nonetheless, Portland financial adviser Bill Parish, who brought Clinton's Portland payday to WW's attention, questions whether a small non-profit should be writing such checks.

"It's hard to see how younger people are going to get engaged with such organizations when they are dedicating resources in this manner," Parish says.

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