She drew the big names — but didn’t dole out the big bucks.
The celebrity-backed charity launched by departing Daily Beast editrix Tina Brown failed to meet the company’s goals in its first year out of the gate — handing out just $10,000 in grant money in 2011 despite raising nearly $1.2 million, IRS records show.
The nonprofit Women in the World Foundation kicked off to much fanfare in 2011 with a star-studded Manhattan party that cost $168,048 and was hosted by Meryl Streep.
In IRS registration papers, the foundation estimated it would give out $300,000 in grants from June to December 2011, but fell short of the mark, with a single $10,000 payout to the Fund for the City of New York, records show.
The foundation had hoped to rake in $1.5 million in contributions in the same period, but instead collected $1.17 million, according to the filings.
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Total expenses, including the launch party, came to $536,868 for the period.
A spokeswoman for Brown said the 2011 figures don’t reflect the scope of the foundation’s work in its first months, noting that the focus was on the non-profit’s educational and informational components and not on grant-making.
The foundation has not yet filed its 2012 tax return, but Brown’s spokeswoman said Women in the World Foundation has given out about $1.1 million since its launch, out of about $2.6 million raised.
That $1.1 million in grants, she said, includes a new $800,000 grant to Vital Voices, a massive international women’s rights non-profit.
Brown’s foundation is slated to join forces with that group in the wake of her departure from Daily Beast.
Women in the World Foundation was set up by Barry Diller’s Newsweek/Daily Beast LLC to harness the success of Brown’s money-making, celebrity-filled Women in the World summit — an annual power-girl powwow that draws the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice.
The Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and Africa Global signed on as founding partners for the fund, which was run by four top Daily Beast execs, including Brown. The aim, Brown said at the time, is “advancing women and girls” by “building on the success of the summits.”
Brown and Diller severe their Daily Beast ties this week and Newsweek in the process of being sold off.
None of the four execs who ran the foundation drew a salary, according to the tax records. Newsweek Daily Beast covered about $400,000 in expenses, including office space and technical support, for the foundation.
According to the tax filings, Brown put in about two hours a week at the nonprofit, while president Kim Azzarelli, a top Newsweek Daily Beast exec, logged about 10 hours a week, according to an IRS filing.
The foundation’s other two directors, secretary Randy Shapiro and treasurer Stephen Colvin, each put in an average of an hour a week. Colvin and Shapiro have left the company.