TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Hope Florida charity created by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration took in more than $867,000 in donations in its first year, mostly from companies regulated by the state or doing business with it, according to the organization’s first tax filing.

In the year leading up to Tampa Electric asking state regulators for a hotly contested rate increase, the utility gave $123,408, more than any other private company.

Centene, the Medicaid contractor that was later “directed” in a settlement agreement to donate $10 million to the charity, gave $95,223. Disaster-management and technology companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars in state contracts also contributed.

The donations to Hope Florida Foundation, a state-created charity, have evoked concerns about potential conflicts of interests between the governor and the first lady’s priority program and state contractors.

Anthony Alfieri, director of the Center for Ethics and Public Service at the University of Miami School of Law, said that recent reporting by the Herald/Times on the foundation raises “deeply troubling issues of pay-to-play conflicts of interest, fiduciary negligence, regulatory noncompliance, and even possible fraud and criminal misconduct.”

Other details about the organization’s tax return are prompting questions about its accounting. The charity gave away less than 5% of its donations, according to the tax return. And the DeSantis administration has claimed it took in and gave hundreds of thousands of dollars that aren’t reflected in the returns.

Details about the foundation’s finances weren’t known until Wednesday, when it released a draft of its first federal tax return, known as a Form 990 for nonprofits. The organization has been operating since 2023 without a budget, bylaws, ethics statements or audits required under state law.

The charity’s tax return captures its first year in existence: the second half of 2023 and first half of 2024. It does not include the $10 million donation that Centene made in October, a transaction that some lawmakers say they believe violated state and federal law. The charity’s board approved the tax return Thursday, the first public meeting in its history.

The tax return was approved after the Herald/Times reported the charity had given $10 million to “dark-money” interest groups that was later funneled to political committees. Dark money groups are politically active organizations that do not have to disclose the source of their funding. Herald/Times reporting sparked an investigation by House Republicans that could jeopardize the future of Hope Florida and its charity foundation.

Hope Florida, the brainchild of first lady Casey DeSantis, is supposed to help Floridians get off of government services. The program spans a dozen government agencies and is embedded in every contract with the state’s Medicaid providers, including Centene. The contracts are worth a collective $28 billion.

For the next five years, these Medicaid providers will get preferential treatment for “graduating” Floridians off of the low-income health insurance program. In turn, the companies are encouraged to donate to the foundation — which is supposed to use that money to award grants to churches and nonprofits that help provide services to Floridians.

Lawmakers have expressed reservations about that relationship.

Rep. Alex Andrade, a Republican who has been investigating Hope Florida and its charity arm, said this month that it was “concerning” that the charity “has received hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars from vendors of the state immediately prior to major awards of state contracts.”

Around the time state health officials awarded its lucrative five-year Medicaid contracts in April 2024, Centene made its $95,223 donation. Simply Healthcare Plans, another Medicaid vendor, donated $98,408, according to the tax return.

A spokesperson for Centene said the company spends more than $2 million a year on average on charity causes in Florida. It partners “with more than 700 nonprofits across Florida to help connect people with critical resources and support they need.”

Simply Healthcare did not respond to requests for comment.

Other companies that do business with the state also gave.

The disaster response company Tidal Basin, which has received contracts worth nearly $640 million under DeSantis’ administration, contributed $48,408. The law firm GrayRobinson, which has won contracts for legal services worth nearly $16 million under DeSantis, gave $23,408.

A spokesperson for Tidal Basin said in a statement that it donated to the Hope Florida Foundation “because their work to strengthen Floridians’ resilience aligns closely with Tidal Basin’s mission to help communities be stronger than before.”

A spokesperson for GrayRobinson said it doesn’t comment on its charitable donations.

Companies regulated by the state also gave, including Tampa-based Baldwin Risk partners, an insurance company that donated $25,000.

The tax return shows Tampa Electric donated nearly $125,000 between August 2023 and June 30, 2024. On Feb. 1, 2024, it told state regulators it would be requesting a rate increase, filed the next month.

That rate increase shifted millions in costs from large corporate power users onto the bills of regular Floridians and small businesses. The regulators, who were chosen by DeSantis, went against the recommendations of their own staff to approve it last year. It was fiercely challenged by consumer advocates.

Company spokesperson Cherie Jacobs said the company supports a wide variety of organizations that share its philanthropic priorities.

“Those priorities are to promote prosperity, elevate education, champion conservation and care for communities,” Jacobs said in a statement.

But the timing of the company’s donations indicate the state sat on one of its checks for months. Tampa Electric first gave $100,000 in March 2023, five months before the foundation was created.

The second donation was for $25,000. It was for sponsoring DeSantis’ Governor’s Cup golf tournament in April 2024.

At its first public meeting Thursday, one board member focused on the lack of information contained in the Hope Florida Foundation’s tax returns. According to DeSantis’ news releases, Casey DeSantis gave $455,000 to churches and nonprofits and $1,000 bonuses to Hope Florida employees during the tax return’s period.

The tax return shows Hope Florida Foundation gave out $40,000 during that period.

“I know for a fact that more money was given,” board member Stephanie White, a Pensacola adoption attorney and wife to a former state representative, said Thursday. “My church was given $20,000 in 2024. None of that is listed.”

Board members couldn’t answer where that money came from. But it appears to have been given by an earlier iteration of the charity.

For at least a year before the Hope Florida charity was created, DeSantis officials asked the public to donate to the “Hope Florida Fund,” which was housed in the Florida Education Foundation.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said “all funds under the Hope Florida Fund have been awarded.”

The Hope Florida Foundation’s lawyer, Jeff Aaron, told the Herald/Times he was “comfortable” that the accounting company it hired “scrutinized all the financials and the 990 is accurate.”

Of the more than $867,000 in donations Hope Florida reports that it accepted, the less than 5% it gave out is surprisingly low, said Rep. Debra Tendrich, a Democrat who runs her own nonprofit. If it were a different charity, she said, donors might be more scrutinizing.

“People don’t typically like to go to a charitable organization if the money’s just going to sit there,” Tendrich said. “My donors all the time call me and say, ‘Just checking in. Can you tell me the progress of the funds being spent?’”

One donor, Steven Herrig, the CEO of Bradenton-based Sunz Insurance, gave $100,000 to the Hope Florida Foundation, according to the charity’s tax return. He also gave $100,000 to the governor’s political committee in September. He said the DeSantises were “fantastic” and he supported the idea behind the Hope Florida program.

“I like the concept of the state working with the faith-based community to help families and children,” Herrig said.

He added that he didn’t have any expectations for how the foundation would use the money.

“I’m sure they’re doing the right thing with it.”

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(Tampa Bay Times reporter Emily L. Mahoney contributed to this report.)

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