$1 million charity CEO
Here’s some more fantastic public record reporting from Atlanta Unfiltered:
Dr. John Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society since 1992, earned $1 million-plus last year thanks to a hefty deferred pay package, tax records show.
The Atlanta-based non-profit, which eliminated 140 positions this year, paid Seffrin a base salary of $685,884 for the year ending Aug. 31, 2008. It also kicked in about $360,000 more toward his benefits and deferred compensation.
A supplemental retirement plan sets aside deferred compensation, paid in addition to employees’ standard pension, for Seffrin and other Cancer Society executives. The non-profit reports that income each year to the IRS, even though the recipients won’t collect it until retirement. That amount includes employer contributions as well as growth in the retirement plan’s value.
Seffrin earned $947,687 in salary and benefits in fiscal year 2007 and $810,796 the year before, tax records show. His 2008 earnings reflected a 29 percent increase over 2006.
I know the arguments — these charities have got to pay heftily to compete with the private sector. But, you know, I just don’t think I could accept a million dollar per year salary at a charity for cancer research.
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I wonder if the Amer Can Soc will respond.
See, the hard thing is… that CEO's at other similarly visibile companies (in the private sector) make 11.4 mil. SO, this guy could be making 10+ mil more to go work in the private sector. I see what you're saying, it's a not for profit… Shouldn't that money go towards cancer research? But who knows if he donates his own money? Also, he's been there since 92! That's CRAZY… Almost 20 years, and he's only earining 1 mil, which is substantial, I know… So I think the fact that he's not MAKING that much each year (a good chunk is going to retirement) makes sense… or cents?
Those are incredibly valid points Megan. Particularly about him donating his own money, etc. The truth is there are probably FAR better people who should be receiving public condemnation.
Also, we can look at charity watchdogs to see how much of the org money goes to research/charity vs. lining the pockets of the executives and admin costs.
If there were a "like" button for comments, I'd "like" Megan's comment. If you check at CharityNavigator.org, the American Cancer Society has less than 7 percent of incoming funds going to administration. (A bigger problem is that 20 percent of their income goes to fundraising). On the other hand, their annual income is over a billion dollars. Not a million. A billion. For comparison, that's about the size of the budget for the state government of Colorado. Holy cow.