Contrary to suggestions that the scrutiny generated by Hillary Clinton's presidential run has hurt its fundraising, the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Foundation has announced that donations through September 2015 are up over the same period last year.

"Compared to this time last year, donations are up — both in terms of the amount donated and the number of donors," Clinton Foundation president Donna Shalala wrote recently in a blog post. "And, as was the case in previous years, about 90 percent of donations were in the amount of $100 or less." A foundation spokesperson told the Washington Post that the number of sponsors of the Clinton Global Initiative in September also was up this year, countering reports that corporate supporters had shied away from the annual event because of the newly politicized atmosphere around the foundation.

According to a database of contributors on the foundation's website — updated on a quarterly basis starting this summer as part of a new donor disclosure policy adopted by the foundation — funders and donors making new contributions between July and September include the Gates, Gill, Kresge, Rockefeller, and Saban Family foundations; the Fundación Carlos Slim; Global Impact; the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund; General Electric, and Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, a co-founder of the King Faisal Foundation. According to the Clinton Foundation's Form 990 for 2013, the most recent year for which data is publicly available, the foundation raised more than $144 million in contributions and grants.

The foundation has rejected allegations that its politically connected donors support the organization as a way to gain access and curry favor with a potential future president. At the same time, the Post writes, the foundation has been wary of the suggestion that fundraising has been hurt by increased media scrutiny and is eager to demonstrate that its work has continued apace.

"Whether it's $5 or $5,000, every single donation matters," wrote Shalala, "and collectively they are enabling us to help more people in more places live their best life story."