Salvation Army and Charities

Today after having lunch with a client I walked past the Salvation Army on 8th Ave and even though I'm on this "minimalist" kick I was lured in the door with hopes of finding a cheap treasure. I immediately snapped up a great guitar stand for $5.99, two cool guitar capos, a Jew's harp and this new, never worn T-shirt all for 99 cents each. I'm sure it will impress the chicks. It's meant as a joke, however in my case....

Speaking of money. Next time someone calls you or asks for a donation please check the CEO's salary and where and how that charity, university or foundation spends their money before you write that check.

Here are some examples of "NONPROFIT" salaries:

Partners Healthcare in Boston- CEO James Mongan, $3.4 million a year.

Museum of Modern Art NYC-CEO Glenn Lowry, $2.4 Million

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia-CEO Steven Altschuler, $2.4 million

Yale University-CEO $4.4 million

USC's head coach-$4.4 million

United Negro College Fund-CEO William Grey, $404,000 (seems fair, comparatively speaking)

Sloan Kettering Cancer Center-CEO Harold Varmus, $1.45 million

Chicago Symphany Orchestra-$840,000

Metropolitan Opera Association-Peter Gelb, $1.1+ million

United Way- CEO, $1.5 million

Red Cross-CEO Mark Everson, $500K

Nature Conservancy-CEO Steven McCormick, $378,366

Columbia, Emory,Cornell, NYU, University of Pa, Stanford, Princeton, Duke and Mount Sinai's universities and hospitals all have upper management making between $2.0 and $4.3 million.

Then you have the cases of nepotism where many family members will work in top management such as the National Breast Cancer Foundation: Janelle Hail-CEO $126K, Kevin Hail-CEO $114K, Neal Hail-Exec $105K, Brent Hail-VP $83K.

Feed the Children: Larry Jones $220K, Frances Jones $176K, Larri Jones $155K

How about Franklin Graham (Billy's son) pulling down $1.1 million+ from the Billy Graham Evangelical Association and Samaritan's Purse (charity). Two salaries.

Oh yeah.. Salvation Army's CEO makes $167,000. (See donation/purchase above)

Also check the disbursment of funds of organizations: The Association of Firefighters and Paramedics makes $3 million per year in donations and fundraising but spends only 3% on programs and services. Perhaps they throw a great yearly barbecue? Yee-hah!

Also something I found interesting is, many of these organizations will have a CEO making millions and a director not far from the top pulling down $50K. Charities seem to have a greatly disproportionate scale from the top to the rest of the executive team.

Personally, I think this is MAJOR bullshit. I think a "nonprofit" company should be run by someone who is either retired from a large corporation after making millions in the private sector or someone who puts their monetary desire aside for the sake of choosing to do "charity" work. And, someone who will accept a wage of $100,000 (max) for running such a company. A hundred grand I can deal with, receiving millions of "donation dollars" is bullshit.

So, think about that next time someone calls you begging for money for their charity.