Big Pay Check for a little Charity?
By laglen
@laglen (19759)
United States
March 12, 2010 8:18am CST
I have worked for years for non-profits. I have worked at the Humane Society, Habitat for Humanity, Chamber of Commerce, and more. One thing they all have in common is, no money. The pay is small, extras came out of my pocket. I ran the volunteer department on a $0 budget. In six months I increased volunteer hours by 500%. $0 budget. I got paid $10 per hour and had a part time schedule. So, on a pay of $200 a week I produced outstanding results.
Now to my issue, I believe that the Boys and Girls club do a good job, but not a million dollar good job -
[i]WASHINGTON -- A group of Republican senators is questioning high salaries and expensive travel bills for executives at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, raising issues that could jeopardize millions in federal funding for the national charity.
The four senators said they were concerned that the chief executive of a charity that has been closing local clubs for lack of funding was compensated nearly $1 million in 2008. They also questioned why in the same year officials spent $4.3 million on travel, $1.6 million on conferences, conventions and meetings, and $544,000 in lobbying fees.[/i]
Reports like this lowers local giving and obviously Federal giving. The greed is sad, don't work for a non-profit if your looking to get rich.
Here is the rest of the story -
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/12/gop-senators-question-m-salary-boys-girls-club-ceo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Fpolitics+%2528Text+-+Politics%2529
What is your opinion? Do you give to charity? Will this change your giving? What do you think Congress should do?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
12 Mar 10
"Reports like this lowers local giving and obviously Federal giving."
You couldn't be more wrong about the federal giving.
"$544,000 in lobbying fees"
That right there is money well spent. Lobbying dollars are the best investment a company can make. I don't remember the exact ratio, but I think each dollar spent on lobbying translates to something like $10 in federal funding.
Now keep in mind, none of these expenses are illegal. They may be high, but if documented, they are legitimate. I typically stay away from large non-profits as they tend to be more corrupt and tend to pay their execs way too much. Obviously these people could fly coach, take a train, and stay in cheaper hotels. They don't though. The absolute worst is the United Way, but the Red Cross and American Cancer Society have plenty of issues as well. When it comes to giving, stick with small charities and remember, you can always ask where your money goes.
1 person likes this
@ronaldinu (12422)
• Malta
12 Mar 10
I have read the whole article in question and I do find it a bit questionable how a non profit organisation official spend $4.3 million on travel, $1.6 million on conferences, conventions and meetings, and $544,000 in lobbying fees. Is the organisation trustworthy? Can the officials answer why they have spend a lot of money on these things?
Recently a local fund raiser for a dog sanctuary was brought to court on fraud since there were a lot of donations that were give to him and could not be traced. It seems that this person misappropriated money from the dog sanctuary's funds. Volunteers testified how the took money out of the account and records were not kept straight.
These incidents do not put me off giving to charity. However they make me aware to be selective and chose trustworthy organisations and donate money only for good causes.
1 person likes this
