Donor Boycott List Begins
pic by www.iQoncept.com
The Chronicle of Philanthropy conducted a survey of 325 large charities and the result was a substantial number making salaries placing them in the top 1% earners. For a peek at the list check out the NPR article through this link.
I am in agreement with many in Congress that these salaries are not in line with the intent of the creation of the 501 C 3 tax code for charitable organizations. The top executive in the United States is the President. This Chief Executive makes no where near these salaries and oversees the largest economy in the world. A nonprofit’s mission should be first and foremost where dollars are spent. The compensation of executives at these organizations is clearly out of line with the organizations mission. It says to the community that the organizations have so much money that they can afford to pay large corporate salaries for an outcome that is charitable. The executive receiving the compensation certainly is not being charitable to the organization by accepting a salary placing them in the top 1% income bracket.
Any nonprofit who says that they must pay the high salary exceeding that of the the Office of the President of the United States to recruit the most qualified person has placed more importance on a person then on the mission of the organization. Placing importance on a single person instead of the institution risks the mission of the organization.
I support Congress passing legislation to limit compensation on executives. However, lets make it simple. No salary for a nonprofit can exceed the salary of the President of the United States. If a nonprofit is to exceed said salary they must convert to a for-profit. Plain and simple.
I believe Socrates would have questioned the merit of the decision by which such a decision had been made by a Board of any nonprofits wishing to pay these extremely high salaries.
For me these organizations represent the beginning of a list of nonprofits for donors not to donate to.
October 1st, 2009 at 5:56 pm
While it is ridiculous that the executives of charities make an obscene amount of money, it is completely ludicrous to compare them to the salary of the president. The president makes an extremely low salary for an executive office - most CEOs make over a million dollars as a standard - in fact, many partners in accounting firms outearn the president.
Additionally, you mention that the mission of the organization is more important than the people in the organization. You need to remember that it is the people in the organization who create the mission and work towards it. If it takes more money to hire the person who is best for this job, then logic dictates you hire that person, rather than spend less money and hire an incompetent who cannot bring about the mission of the organization.
October 1st, 2009 at 6:35 pm
The point of the post was that charitable and government work comes with it a certain level of charitable commitment. If a person wants to make the big bucks they need to look elsewhere. If they have no intention of being employed at a reasonable salary when compared to most employed individuals then they should not be hired.
Yes the mission is more important in the hiring decision process than the individual because your hiring the person make the mission successful.
Any notion that it takes more money to get the most qualified person for a nonprofit or government job when your paying 6 figures is false.
There are hundreds of examples of well qualified individuals taking on the responsibilities and accepting a pay that fits the charitable nature of the organization. There are just as many examples of high paid executives who did an awful job and created for a nonprofit a huge mess to clean up. Just conduct a web search for as many examples as you need.
Incompetence is not created by the dollar value of a salary. Incompetence is caused by the hiring committee who placed to much value on credentials and an asking price.
The bottom line is that nonprofits and government organizations were not created to pay high salaries and as charitable organizations are to keep their costs lower than the for-profit market.