Presidential Libraries Are Black Boxes — And Not Just Trump’s

Big-dollar contributions to presidential libraries are largely gilded in secrecy, with few federal rules governing the size, source and disclosure of donations to these legacy-bolstering institutions.

A NOTUS review of federal records and library disclosure documents, coupled with interviews with more than 30 presidential library foundation donors, indicates that available information is routinely incomplete, inconsistent or inaccurate.

Meanwhile, presidential libraries and their respective foundations have quietly garnered renewed interest among powerful government lobbying forces now that Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Barack Obama are in various stages of planning, building and fundraising for their own presidential libraries and centers.

False information can run deep.

On its “President’s Council” webpage, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum lauded “philanthropic leaders who sustain the work” of the library with “annual support of $25,000 and above.”

But among the 50 corporations, foundations and individuals listed as of last week, at least five were incorrect — and appear to have been wrongly labeled for months or years.

“I’ve confirmed with our internal government affairs team that we did not contribute to the library last year,” MGM Resorts International spokesman Jeff Mochal told NOTUS.

News Corp likewise made no donation to the Kennedy library “in 2025 or recent years” despite appearing on the library’s list, the company confirmed. Morgan Stanley and Boeing — two more honored donors — said they made no 2025 donations, while Bank of America said its philanthropic foundation, not the corporation itself, should be the cited donor.

In an email to NOTUS, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Foundation spokesperson Valerie Linson said the foundation is in the process of reconstituting its President’s Council and “realized that this webpage needed updating when we received inquiries from the organizations you contacted.” The donor webpage now features about 20 fewer contributors. Some are different than before.

Money and support to libraries honoring long-dead presidents isn’t just about preserving history. Presidential libraries are often overseen by people with direct ties to power today — like board members Caroline Kennedy, Paul Ryan, Elaine Chao and Joel Kaplan, and former White House staffers and presidential family members with keen interests in current public policy.

“We should be able to clearly see and understand who is donating, and yet, the law has been inadequate to the task for decades,” said Daniel Schuman, executive director of the American Governance Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for strengthening American democratic institutions.

At worst, Schuman said, a presidential library could be a magnet for “graft and propaganda,” and donor transparency helps defend against that.

Members of Congress are also taking notice. Democrats Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jared Moskowitz recently introduced companion bills that would, in part, cap donations to presidential libraries and centers at $10,000 and mandate they file quarterly reports with the federal government disclosing details about donors contributing more than $200. Neither bill has yet received a hearing. (The offices of Warren and Moskowitz acknowledged requests for comments but did not respond to questions.)

The future Trump library has already raised tens of millions of dollars from undisclosed sources, according to The Washington Post, and may ultimately operate more like a Trump resort or hotel complex than a center for academic, policy and civic pursuits. The president is simultaneously raising hundreds of millions of dollars from often opaque corporate sources for various other Trump-driven projects and events, including his 2025 military parade, a new White House ballroom and festivities associated with the United States’ 250th anniversary.

White House spokesperson Davis R. Ingle referred questions to the Trump Library, which did not respond to inquiries. The foundation supporting the future Biden library also did not respond to a request for comment.

At present, one small but revealing window into presidential library funding comes via an obscure federal lobbying law that requires corporations and individuals who both lobby the federal government and give money to presidential library foundations to publicly acknowledge their library contributions.

During 2025, almost 20 companies and individual lobbyists fitting this description combined donated more than $7.6 million to presidential library foundations, NOTUS’ review of available records indicates.The largest single donation — $5 million on Oct. 2 — came from Health Care Service Corporation to the Barack Obama Foundation, which supports the former president’s soon-to-open Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, records show.

The money will go toward “advancing high-quality health care in the community” in conjunction with the Obama Presidential Center and local nonprofit organizations, Health Care Service Corporation spokesperson Erika Callahan said. “It just makes sense for us to make that donation to invest in Chicago communities.”

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center, Sept. 28, 2021, in Chicago. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

GE Aerospace reported making contributions totaling $475,000 to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. The money went to support the Reagan National Defense Forum and a scholarship program, company spokesperson Meghan Keck Thurlow told NOTUS. Viasat, a communication technology company, also confirmed its $50,000 contribution went for the same purpose.

Other companies declined to comment on their 2025 presidential library-related contributions, including Google ($350,000 to the George W. Bush Foundation), Meta ($75,000 to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute), Rolls-Royce ($50,000 to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute) and State Street Bank and Trust ($50,000 to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation Inc.)

Telecom giant AT&T, Gecko Robotics, Palantir and Planet Labs PBC did not respond to requests for comment about their five- or six-figure presidential library contributions. Nor did defense contractor RTX, which in 2025 spread more than $457,000 among four different presidential libraries or facilities: Kennedy, Obama, Reagan and the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site.

Then there’s Lockheed Martin, the defense contracting powerhouse that spent more than $15.6 million last year lobbying the federal government, which is listed by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute as a financial supporter.

But before last week, Lockheed Martin had not disclosed to Congress, as mandated by federal law, that it made any such contributions during 2025.

Asked why the company had not filed a disclosure, Lockheed Martin told NOTUS in a statement that it would do so to reflect that it sponsored and participated in the annual Reagan Defense Forum hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. Last week, the U.S. Senate released the new disclosure, which indicated that Lockheed Martin contributed $200,000 on Oct. 31.

Similarly, the Kennedy library listed Liberty Mutual Insurance on its updated donor page for 2025. But Liberty Mutual, which spent more than $3 million in 2025 lobbying the federal government, according to federal records, acknowledged in an email to NOTUS that it had not filed a disclosure with Congress as required.

“One of our business units sponsored a celebratory event and the funds will be included in an amended disclosure,” Liberty Mutual said in a statement to NOTUS.

The Lobby Disclosure Act, as enhanced by the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, provides civil and criminal penalties for knowing and willful violations, although such penalties are rare.

Further complicating matters: Presidential libraries have split personalities.

The federal government’s National Archives primarily funds and is responsible for maintaining official presidential records, papers, archives and artifacts of a presidential library (Archives representatives did not respond to request for comment). But many presidential libraries created in recent decades rely on their nonprofit foundations to help coordinate and fundraise for programs, events and activities in and around a former president’s library and center.

Nothing stops the presidential libraries and centers themselves from voluntarily disclosing their supporters — and some do.

“As part of our commitment to transparency, the Obama Foundation goes above and beyond required disclosures,” the foundation said in a statement, noting that it publishes all contributions of more than $1,000 on its website, and makes the data searchable and sortable.

But the Obama donor data is only current through 2024. It may be months before an update, with the foundation saying it anticipates publishing information about donors from 2025 sometime during the autumn of 2026. Meanwhile, Obama’s center, which is slated to open this year, has faced criticism for both its cost — estimated well into the hundreds of millions of dollars — and aesthetic.

The George W. Bush Presidential Center “publicly recognizes donors on our website, including corporate supporters, consistent with our recognition policies,” spokesman Andrew Kaufmann said. He did not respond to a question about what its recognition policies entail.

While various corporations are listed by name on the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s website, the site does not list their donation amounts, and it’s unclear what their contributions specifically fund. The George W. Bush Presidential Center offers various perks for donors at different levels, according to a “Corporate Leadership Society Benefits” document.

Federal lobbying records indicate that two executives for the Business Roundtable, a trade association for leading corporate chief executives, made contributions to the George W. Bush Presidential Center: Joshua Bolten and Elizabeth Dougherty.

“Mr. Bolten and Mrs. Dougherty both served in the George W. Bush Administration and are longstanding supporters of the Bush library,” Business Roundtable spokesperson Jennifer Cummings said.

Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute spokesperson Melissa Giller said the foundation doesn’t publish a donor list, as it is not legally required to do so, although some donors are recognized on its website.

It’s unclear which of these companies are legally required to publicly report their donations to Congress, although several listed did, including defense, homeland security and immigration enforcement contractor Palantir, which disclosed giving more than $1.7 million during 2025, per federal records.