Heads of charities deserve same scrutiny as corporate CEOs

Posted Nov 24th 2008 5:05PM by Jonathan Berr
Filed under: From the Boards, Employees, Financial Crisis

Think it's good to be a CEO? It's not bad to run a non profit organization either. There is the satisfaction of doing right by your fellow man. Plus, there is the salary, on average $150,000, according to GuideStar. Though those salaries are not in the same league as Fortune 500 CEOs, they are far in excess of what most people earn. In these tough economic times when charitable giving is plunging and endowments are drying up, these compensation plans deserve additional scrutiny.

For instance, Abraham H. Foxman and Rabbi Marvin Hier, two of the best-known leaders in the Jewish community, are each being paid more than $600,000, according to filings with Internal Revenue Service from 2006, the latest figures available. Both work two part-time jobs.

Foxman is listed as working 27 hours as ADL's National Director. In addition, Foxman also serves as a trustee of the Anti-Defamation League Foundation, a job which he devotes 13 hours per week for a salary of more than $163,000.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which Hier co-founded in 1977, takes only 24 hours of his time to run. For his time, he received $241,269. The balance of his $691,000 in salary and benefits comes from the Museum of Tolerance. Moreover, Hier's wife Marlene has a six-figure job and his sons work at the organization as well. More than $1 million worth of business has been done between the organizations and either companies owned by the board of directors or relatives or board members.

These salaries are high but there are plenty higher.

University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann was paid $1 million last year. According to the New York Times, Gutmann and her husband donated $100,000 to a scholarship for undergraduates. Maybe it was out of the goodness of tl heir hearts. Maybe Gutmann was practicing damage control after the Chronicle of Higher Education's annual salary survey was put out. Other college presidents were agreeing to take pay cuts.

Examples for well-paid non-profit executives abound. Jeremey Strick received $467,523 in pay last year as head of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the museum blew through its endowment and had to be rescued by billionaire Eli Broad. If pay for performance means anything, Strick should be made to refund the museum any bonuses he was paid. The board should also resign. That's a disgrace.

Here's a look at some other non-profit salaries:

Hala G. Moddelmog, CEO of the Susan G. Koman for the Cure (breast cancer) - $208,185. Interestingly, interim chief executive and COO Patrice Tosi - $513,095;
Anthony Romero, the head of the ACLU - $321,360;
Pamela Barnes, head of the Elisabeth Glazer Pediatric Aids Foundation - $286,285;
Edward J. Sayers, head of the ASPCA, - $421,514;
Kevin Klose , former head of NPR - $369,402;

Donors should take clues from shareholders and demand greater accountability from those who make a very good living doing good.

Tags: ABraham Foxman, AbrahamFoxman, ADL, ASPCA, charities, ELi Broad, EliBroad, featured, MARvin Hier, MarvinHier, MOCA, non profit organizations, NonProfitOrganizations, Penn, SImon wiesenthal Center, SimonWiesenthalCenter