The World Bank is in discussions with Ivanka Trump about establishing a kind of World Bank-managed fund to help women entrepreneurs, according to bank officials.
Discussions are at a very early stage, and almost no details of the plan have been agreed to, said the officials, speaking on the condition that their names would not be used. The fund's name and specific mission had not been chosen, they said, and no money has been raised.
The officials said that if the fund was managed by the World Bank, it would not be in Ivanka Trump's power to direct where its money was spent. She could, however, help solicit donations for it.
Those World Bank statements added detail - though not much clarity - to a report in the online news outlet Axios, which on Wednesday morning had reported that Ivanka Trump "has begun building a massive fund that will benefit female entrepreneurs around the globe." Axios' original report seemed to imply that the fund was Ivanka Trump's idea, and that it might be run by her. "Canadians, Germans and a few Middle Eastern countries have already made quiet commitments, as have several corporations," Axios reported.
That potential setup raised questions about how Ivanka Trump - the president's daughter, now an official White House staffer - would avoid conflicts of interest, if she were soliciting donations for her fund from countries and companies, while still wielding power as "assistant to the president." Federal rules prohibit government employees from using their official position to solicit money for nonprofits or for-profit businesses.
