Grants to Billionaire's...or Foundations?

[davemarc]

Steely writes
> 
> davemarc (sorry about the capitalization error in the last post) dredges
up
> an old topic:
> >I haven't read Steelhead's expose, but, as far as I can discern, what he
> >writes here doesn't contradict anything I wrote previously.  I don't see
> >anything wrong with Spielberg receiving any additional support for this
> >very ambitious and long overdue project, which involves interviewing as
> >many Holocaust survivors as possible--actually giving voice to the very
> >same people so stubbornly ignored by Riefenstahl and so viciously
demonized
> >by Goebbels.  Spielberg's put plenty of his own time and money into the
> >project, but even if it were entirely funded by others I'd still applaud
> >him for spearheading it.  That other worthy projects may not "get" the
> >million is far more the fault of government policies than it might be
the
> >responsibility of Spielberg.
> 
> Just a couple points here. First, if I recall, davemarc praised Spielberg
> for the laudable--and highly publicized--decision to donate *all* of the
> profits from SL (he said, I believe, that accepting director's fees or
> profits from the film would be like taking "blood money") to the SHOAH
> Project Foundation. This turned out to be an accurate quote. However, the
> total budget of the SHOAH Project, according to its annual filing with
the
> IRS (a form called a 990-PF, for those of you interested in this branch
of
> the secret histories of the US), is projected at between $30 and $40
> million. Schindler's List made more than $250 million in international
box
> office and video "sales." The movie cost less than $50 million to film,
> advertise and distribute. That's a disparity of more than $150 million.
> 
> But there's more. In addition to the grant from the National Endowment
for
> the Humanities (which was awarded by Congress--through the good services
of
> Sen. Barbara Boxer, to whom Spielberg had shoveled more than $100,000 in
> political contributions over the past 6 years--in a one of a kind deal,
> after being rejected by the NEH staffers, who believed that the SHOAH
> project was already more than well funded) of $1 million, the SHOAH
> Foundation lists major contributions from many FORTUNE 500 companies,
> including, ironically enough, some corporations with ties to the Nazi
> regime, ie, Texaco, General Electric, and--gulp--Shell. Moreover, David
> Geffen, Lew Wasserman, the Bronfman's (ie., Seagrams/MCA), Michael Ovitz
> (lately departed from Disney), and Michael Eisner all kicked in more than
> $500,000. EACH! It turns out that the profits from SL only accounted for
> about $5 million of the SHOAH budget--this is less than 5 percent of
> Spielberg's *annual* income. Now, I know the accounting methods for
> Hollywood movies is--ahem--creative, but I'm curious...WHERE DID THE
MONEY
> GO? Switzerland? You know those Swiss bankers. They'll never tell. Look
at
> how long they've held on to that Nazi gold.
> 
I wonder if Steely, who's obviously done some heavy research into this
subject, knows if SL profits under Spielberg's discretion but not in the
annual budget cited above are being kept in a foundation trust.  A related
question:  is the "total budget" of SHOAH for one year or somehow
comprehensive, including last year's, next year's, and next century's
monies?  Futhermore, what exactly is secret about an IRS form numbered
990-F?

As for the allegation that Congress overrode the NEH because of Barbara
Boxer's influence, I doubt that it boils down to that.  I do wonder what
the grant's stipulations happen to be.

Was it Edgar Bronfman who recently appeared before Congress to pressure the
Swiss bankers into 'fessing up?  I know corrupt ol' Al D'Amato is using the
issue to save his political career.  Does their involvement totally
discredit the effort?  I don't think so.

davemarc