Nations, friends among Bill Clinton donors

Foundation raised more than $500m

Mike Wintroath/associated pressThe William J. Clinton Foundation funds charitable efforts to fight poverty and chronic global health problems. (Mike Wintroath/associated press)

WASHINGTON - Bill Clinton has raised more than $500 million for his charitable foundation from foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, and from an international who's who of royal families, corporate barons, philanthropic foundations, entertainment personalities, Democratic donors, and longtime friends of the family, according to a list of donors made public for the first time yesterday.

Lifting a veil of secrecy that had been aggressively protected by the former president, the William J. Clinton Foundation disclosed a 2,922-page list of more than 200,000 benefactors as part of an accord with President-elect Barack Obama that allows Clinton's wife, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, to become secretary of state.

Among the multimillion-dollar donors - whose identities have remained anonymous for more than a decade - are several foreign states, multinational corporations, and international business moguls. They represent a thicket of potential conflicts of interest that Hillary Clinton must avoid should the Senate approve Obama's nomination.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Australian government's overseas aid program, and a Dominican Republic government agency that fights AIDS each gave $10 million to $25 million to the Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit that financed Bill Clinton's presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., and funds charitable efforts to fight poverty and chronic global health problems.

Norway gave $5 million to $10 million, while Brunei, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar each donated $1 million to $5 million, according to the foundation's donor list.

Nearly 90 percent of the Clinton Foundation's gifts are valued at $250 or below, with 12,000 people giving $10 or less.