The Obama Foundation is recruiting 100 unpaid volunteers to assist with operations at the $850 million Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, set to open in June. These volunteers, designated as “ambassadors,” will work alongside approximately 300 full- and part-time employees to welcome visitors, provide information about exhibits, and support activities across the 19.3-acre campus.
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The center includes a 22-story museum tower, an athletic center, and a branch of the Chicago Public Library. The foundation promotes the volunteer program as central to its mission, highlighting volunteerism as a key element of former President Barack Obama’s legacy of civic engagement. The program is expected to expand beyond its initial scope.
According to the foundation’s 2024 federal filings, total salaries and benefits at the organization increased from $18.5 million in 2018 to $43.7 million in 2024. The foundation reported nearly $210 million in annual revenue and employs 337 staff members. Valerie Jarrett, the organization’s CEO and a former senior Obama adviser, earned $740,000 each year from 2022 to 2024. Other former Obama administration officials serving as foundation executives have received six-figure salaries, including former White House political director David Simas, who earned over $600,000 annually during his leadership from 2017 to 2020.
The Obama Presidential Center, located in Jackson Park, is projected to generate $3.1 billion in economic activity over 10 years and create 5,000 construction jobs, according to an economic assessment by Deloitte Consulting LLP. More than half of construction contracts have been awarded to diverse firms, with a substantial portion of the workforce drawn from South and West Side Chicago communities. The center’s opening ceremony is scheduled for Juneteenth, the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
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