Jared Polis

Jared Polis

How rich is Jared Polis?

Dude is swimming in $160 million bucks, according to Richest Celebrity.

That would make him the second wealthiest member of Congress; second only to Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California whose net worth is more than $357 million. That means Polis is richer even than Sen. Jay Rockefeller.

What does Polis do with all of that money?

We know he likes to funnel it to radical fractivists in his never ending, but stealthier pursuit, to ban oil and gas development in Colorado.

But Richest Celebrity focused on Polis’s philanthropy work:

Polis founded the Jared Polis Foundation, whose mission will be to “create chances for achievement by supporting teachers, increasing use of technology, and strengthening our community.” Its primary applications will be the yearly “Teacher Recognition Awards”; the “Community Computer Connection” application, which refurbishes and contributes more than 3,500 computers a year to schools and non-profit organizations; and the semiannual “Jared Polis Foundation Education Report.”

We pulled the foundation’s most recent tax filings from 2011 through 2013, and the findings were disturbing — less than a third of what Polis provides in funding every year actually goes to charity.

On the American Institute of Philanthropy’s grading scale, the Polis Foundation would get an F.

Polis is the sole contributor, and set aside a dwindling number of dollars over those years, most generous in 2011 with $300,000. However, more than a third of that money, $106,000 went to his foundation director, Gina Nocera.

The mini tech grants were just over $30,000 and nearly $49,000 went to teacher recognition, less than $500 to the Academy of Urban Learning.

A total of only $80,000 actually went to charitable works.

The following year, Polis cut his donation to $270,000 but gave Nocera a raise and her total earnings topped nearly $108,000.

Teacher awards were slashed to $25,000, while another $25,000 was dolled out in a school recognition program. The mini tech grants were boosted to $33,000 and the Academy of Urban Learning received less than $1,500.

Judging by the foundation’s web site, the teacher awards disbursed $1,000 to each teacher, $5,000 to each school.

Polis cut his contribution yet again in 2013 to $250,000 while continuing to boost Nocera’s total take home to more than $111,000 – closing in on half of the foundation’s total funding for the year.

Grants for teachers and schools remained the same at $25,000 each, $31,000 for the tech grants, and less than $1,400 for the urban academy.

Essentially, Polis’s foundation spent more money on the director’s salary than all of the grants, combined.

F, indeed.