Kanye West’s former charity is on the verge of collapse, as it’s making less in a year than the cost of a pair of Yeezy limited edition sneakers, The U.S. Sun can exclusively report.
Donda’s House, now called Art of Culture, was founded in 2013 by Kanye and his childhood friend, Rhymefest, to help disadvantaged minority groups get a start in life through music and the arts in the Chicago area. The charity, initially named after the rapper’s late mother, purchased his tiny three-bed childhood home on S Shore Drive in the crime-ridden South Side of the city in a bid to restore the property and use it as a community center.
But Kanye cut all ties with the non-profit in May 2018 amid accusations from Rhymefest, real name Che Smith, that he’d pulled financial support and “abandoned” his native city.
Kim Kardashian backed her husband at the time, tweeting: “You’re over leveraging Kanye’s name and asked Kanye to donate money to you so stop w your fake community politics & lies. Truth is you haven’t been able to sustain the foundation.”
In December 2018, the company Donda Services LLC – set up by Kanye – took back the property for $225,000 with the aim of repairing and preserving the property. This week, the 1,600 square-foot property was pictured restored to how Kanye wanted it with black railings and a gate with the initials DH, representing Donda’s House.
CHARITY CHALLENGES
Despite the restored former headquarters, the charity’s last tax form – called a 990 – was filed back in 2019, and reveals the organization spent the hundreds of thousands raised in previous years and now had zero assets.
In that year, it received donations totaling $15,529, but paid out $15,545 in expenses.
The $16 shortfall seems to have been made up by what it had left in reserves, leaving nothing in the pot. Contributions in 2019 totaled less than Yeezy’s most expensive ever shoe – the Nike Air Yeezy Red October – which is currently fetching over $20k on resale sites.
In previous Kanye-backed years, the non-profit had received $206,023 in 2016, $164,711 in 2017, and $105,524 in 2018.
Accounts are now overdue by two years, which means if it fails to file a 990 form next year, it will lose its tax-exempt status.
Art of Culture Inc’s Instagram hasn’t been updated since December.
The website is showing generic content that could have been uploaded years ago and the events page is blank.
The previous incarnation of Donda House’s website is still live selling rude t-shirts including one called Flanye West, picturing Kanye designed as a flan.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Rhymefest for comment.
He previously admitted: “It’s very challenging for non-profit organizations in the city of Chicago to get the foundational dollars necessary to turn around communities that are in despair.
“Fortunately for me, I have a powerful friend who can do it himself! To see the house being constructed again is dope, it keeps our bond tight.”
NEW PLAN
In an exclusive interview, Rhymefest told The U.S. Sun in 2020: “Kanye and I have a great relationship at this point, even with the sale of the house, it wasn’t anything contentious, that’s my brother.
“He came to my house in Chicago, we sat down and had dinner, and talked about how to move forward through love.
“My plan was to turn it into an arts hub, but that may not have been Kanye’s vision for his childhood home.”I don’t know what he’s going to do with it, but I see he’s going somewhere with it, and it’s better than what was happening, it was on the demolition list for the city.
“Once we sold the property back to him, Kanye made a promise to me he would do something constructive with it.”
Source: the-sun
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