Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell empire is back in the spotlight and this time it’s the numbers doing the talking.
Fresh financial filings for 2024 paint a messy picture behind the glossy rebrand to “Archewell Philanthropies,” with donations plunging, vague expenses exploding and end of year liabilities shooting up in ways that have left charity watchers openly baffled.
Contributions fell sharply from roughly $5.3 million in 2023 to just $2.1 million in 2024.
Insiders pointed out that almost the entire year’s haul appears to hinge on a single $2 million donation routed through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation believed by critics to be linked to the same mystery donor who quietly funnelled $10 million to Archewell back in 2021.
Despite the cash drop, grant-giving stayed stubbornly steady at around $1.3 million, with the Sussexes’ pet causes still well fed.
The biggest slice went to the “Welcome Project,” split across a dozen groups, while headline cheques included $150,000 to Screen Sanity for online safety, $125,000 to the NAACP and $100,000 to the Hopelab Foundation.
Notably missing this year was Ashley Biden’s wellness project, which had previously benefited from Archewell largesse.
Where things really get spicy is spending. Employee pay remained eye wateringly high for a charity of this size, with top executives pocketing six-figure salaries even as reports swirled of staff being quietly let go during the rebrand.
By the end of 2024, Archewell’s liabilities had surged by more than $800,000 compared to the previous year.
While the foundation insists everything is above board, watchdogs note that the foundation still clears the threshold requiring it to file public IRS disclosures.
Prince Harry and Meghan who preach transparency and compassion, Archewell’s latest figures read less like a fairy tale and more like a financial cliffhanger.
