Since December, Mrs. Trump has accelerated her efforts to raise or make money — for herself and for charitable causes — holding an online auction last month to sell a white hat she had worn at the White House during a visit by the French president in 2018, as part of what she called the Head of State Collection.
She also recently announced plans to host what she called an “exclusive high tea” that she is calling Tulips Topiaries, selling tickets for as much as $50,000 for “V.I.P. table sponsors.” The money raised from the event, scheduled to be held in Naples, Fla., in April, would be at least partly donated to a cause that supports children in or emerging from foster care, Mrs. Trump has said.
The money, she told The New York Times in a statement this month, would be used “to provide children within the foster community the ability to secure entry-level jobs within the technology sector,” resembling the mission of the Holberton School.
But the planned event in Florida has drawn questions from officials who are investigating whether Mrs. Trump complied with state law. Florida requires anyone soliciting charitable donations to register with the state, and officials there could not find a registration filed on behalf of Mrs. Trump or the programs she said she was raising money for, called Be Best and Fostering the Future.
In the statement on Friday, Mrs. Trump said that she did not intend to create her own formal nonprofit organization, registered with Florida or the federal government.
Instead, she said, the money raised at the April event would go to Gen Justice, an existing nonprofit also known as Generation Justice that uses legal action to try to improve the foster care system in the United States. Mrs. Trump also said she was working with a conservative nonprofit called the Bradley Impact Fund that had selected the foster-care related charities she intended to support. Both organizations are registered in Florida to raise charitable donations.
A spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which oversees charitable giving in the state, declined to comment on Friday about the inquiry.

Source: New York Times

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