Two Contenders for the White House — and Bush and Cheney — Disclose Giving Data

Two presidential candidates — Sens. John McCain, the Arizona Republican, and Barack Obama,

the Illinois Democrat — and President Bush have released tax returns that provide details about the money they have donated to charitable causes.

Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, released his tax returns for the past two years.

In 2007, the Arizona senator reported $405,409 in total income and contributed $105,467, or 26 percent of his total income, to charity. In 2006, Mr. McCain had $358,414 in total income and donated $64,695, or 18 percent of total income, to charity.

The tax returns were filed by Mr. McCain only. His wife, Cindy Hensley McCain, an heir to a beer-distribution company in Phoenix who has reported wealth of as much as $100-million, files a separate return each year and does not plan to release her tax returns.

A statement from Mr. McCain’s campaign said that most of the senator’s charitable contributions were made to the John and Cindy McCain Family Foundation, in Phoenix, which makes direct contributions to charities.

The senator and Mrs. McCain each make gifts to their foundation, which is focused on helping organizations that work “for the spiritual, educational, and medical needs of the community.”

In 2007, the foundation provided a total of $78,250 to charities, including $25,000 to Operation Smile, which provides reconstructive facial surgery to poor children and young adults in developing countries, and $25,000 to the Halo Trust, which removes debris left behind after wars, especially land mines.

In 2006, recipients of the foundation’s $187,639 in total gifts included Phoenix institutions that some of their children have attended: Brophy College Preparatory school, $50,500; and Christ Lutheran School, $42,639.

The foundation has provided a total of more than $314,000 to these two schools since 2003, according to informational tax returns filed by the John and Cindy McCain Family Foundation.

The informational returns show that from 2000 (the first year Mr. McCain gave money to the organization) through 2007, the fund took in a total of $1.7-million and made more than $1.6-million in grants.

From 2000 through 2006, Mr. McCain gave the foundation nearly $1.4-million — or 90 percent — of its money. In 2007, Cindy McCain, the fund’s board chair since 2000, was for the first time listed as a contributor to the organization; she and Mr. McCain together provided $176,508.

In earlier years, the fund was called the Hensley Family Foundation and its donor was Hensley & Company, the beer distributorship founded by Mrs. McCain’s father, James W. Hensley, who died in 2000.

Mr. McCain’s campaign said the senator donates royalties from his books to charities and that “this sum has totaled over $1,800,000 since 1998 when he signed his first book deal.” The campaign said his book income added up to $256,898 for 2006 and 2007.

The senator’s campaign also said that Mr. McCain has donated to charity a total of $450,000 since 1991 in increases in his Senate salary “because he opposed the Congressional pay increase at that time and pledged not to accept the pay raises.”

Donations by Obamas

Meanwhile, Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, released their tax return for 2007 showing that they donated 5.7 percent of their income that year to charitable causes.

The tax return shows that the Illinois senator and Mrs. Obama, who reported $4.2-million in income, gave $240,370 to 33 churches and charities.

Senator and Mrs. Obama made their largest gift, of $50,000, to the United Negro College Fund. They gave $35,000 to CARE, the international relief organization, and $26,270 to Trinity United Church of Christ (whose pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., has attracted controversy).

Twenty-two organizations received $5,000 gifts from the Obamas, including the Boys and Girls Club; the Central Illinois Food Bank; the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault; the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans; the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance; and the United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area.

Previously, Mr. and Mrs. Obama released general information about their giving in 2007 and their tax returns dating back to 2000 that showed their charitable contributions had increased over the past three years, when the senator and his wife were making more money and he was beginning to run for president (The Chronicle, April 3).

In 2006, the Obamas gave $60,307 to charitable organizations, or about 6 percent of their $991,296 in total income that year. In 2005, the Obamas reported total gifts of $77,315, or about 5 percent of their total income of nearly $1.7-million.

From 2000 through 2004, the Obamas’ total income was much smaller, ranging from $207,647 in 2004 to $275,123 in 2001. During those five years, their charitable giving represented about 1 percent of their total income.

Presidential Giving

President Bush and Vice President Cheney and their wives also released information about their contributions to charities last year.

The White House said that Mr. Bush and the first lady, Laura Bush, gave $165,660 to churches and charitable organizations, a figure that represents nearly 18 percent of their total income of $936,111.

The organizations receiving gifts from President and Mrs. Bush included the Crawford Volunteer Fire Department, in their Texas hometown; Malaria No More Fund, which works in Africa and has been supported by Mrs. Bush; Martha’s Table, a soup kitchen in Washington; Susan G. Komen for the Cure (formerly known as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation); and St. John’s Church, an Episcopal parish near the White House.

The White House did not say how much money the Bushes contributed to specific organizations.

Laura Bush also donated, according to the White House, all net proceeds from a $150,000 advance she received for a children’s book she has written with her daughter, Jenna Bush, to Teach for America, a nonprofit group that places recent college graduates as teachers in schools in poor neighborhoods, and to the New Teacher Project, in New York.

Vice President Cheney and his wife, Lynne Cheney, said they contributed $166,547 to charity in 2007, which represented 5.5 percent of their total income of $3.05-million. The Cheneys did not identify the organizations that received their gifts.

The Cheneys said that their total contributions to charitable organizations during the years Mr. Cheney has served as vice president was $7.96-million.