As you open your pockets for the next natural disaster, please keep these facts in mind:
Meanwhile: The Salvation Army's Commissioner Todd Bassett receives a salary of only $13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar organization. 96 percent of donated dollars go to the cause. The American Legion National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth! The Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!The American Red Cross President and CEO Marsha J. Evans' salary for the year was $651,957 plus expenses. The United Way President Brian Gallagher receives a $375,000 base salary along with numerous expense benefits. UNICEF CEO Caryl M. Stern receives $1,200,000 per year (100k per month) plus all expenses including a ROLLS ROYCE. Less than 5 cents of your donated dollar goes to the cause.
UPDATE: Check the combox for better figures. I did point out that this was from one of those bulk emails, but it turns out from a look at Snopes that the figures are way off. I'd delete the post, but it's raised interesting comments, and a worthwhile discussion--not least of which is really don't trust those bulk emails sincere people send you!
Thanks, Father! Very interesting and useful information!
ReplyDeleteCan you publish your source? Even though the 'worker is worth the wage'- these salaries are ridiculous!
ReplyDeleteNot to mention Catholic Charities, where nearly 90 cents out of every dollar goes directly to services and programs.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with the overall sentiment presented here, <a href="http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/charities.asp>Snopes</a> has a good article that corrects most of this info that is outdated or inaccurate.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, the National Commander of the Salvation Army has not been Bassett since '06. The new Commander makes $243,000, as estimated by Forbes (Oct. 2010).
I did give due warning that this came to me through one of those bulk emails...Often they are biased or inaccurate or out of date.
ReplyDeleteThe MDA pushed out Jerry Lewis.
ReplyDeleteHow about giving some information on CRS?
ReplyDeleteSure, Father, but as a publisher, why propel the inaccuracies when a quick trip to Snopes can set the record straight?
ReplyDeleteI'd argue it doesn't detract from the point, but rather makes it all the more solid.
According to Snopes (same link that Lance offered, I believe), the CEO salary that you quoted for UNICEF, Father, is nearly three times the CEO's actual salary. There are a lot of people out there who hate the U.N., even though it does much good in the world. The most extreme of those folks (e.g., Tim McVeigh) do not need salary quotes to justify their hatred, of course; they just hate for the sake of hating. There are other folks, however, who are well-intentioned but poorly informed, who get a bit of misinformation from a blog such as this and then say, See, I told you it's a lousy no-good organization.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a reason to fact check before sharing Internet rumors?
After checking SNOPES, the salaries still seem way, way off the charts. The Salvation Army General figure is pretty disheartening. As for the UN, I don't "hate" it, and resent the McVeigh association. Are those who support it to be linked with Hanoi Jane? It may do good, but it also does plenty of evil, and UNICEF has a very troubled history. $475,000 for a CEO? Not as rhetorically outrageous as double the amount, but unsettling nonetheless. Just like Clinton getting $10,000 for a speech.
ReplyDeleteAccording to a Youtube video I saw, the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus is very heavily rewarded. They have also (according to the same source)recently declined to consider disciplining pro-abortion politician members and threatened to eject the complainers instead!
ReplyDelete95 cents of every dollar donated to Catholic Relief Services goes to direct services:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crs.org/about/finance/financial_form.cfm
Fr.,
ReplyDeleteDisappointed that you would spread inaccurate rumors. Having read the more accurate and updated information provide by the other commenters, would request a retraction of this post.
After googling UNICEF and reading their avowed denial of that "rumor". I was given another website to go to to see the salaries of United Nations Groups,
ReplyDeleteCan I tell you....it was so confusing I could not find CEO of Unicef; there is so many categories. So now I am feeling like it was purposefully made confusing.
Perhaps w/out reason..but thats how I am feeling. I have decided to change my monthly contribution to UNICEF over to CRS. I want to continue to feed and clothe the poor; they are my brothers & sisters and we are all children of our great & glorious God. So, Father, at least you have picqued my interest in CEO's of charities and what % of my contribution goes directly to the people. God Bless you
I donated a small pittance to Food for the Poor after the earthquake in Haiti and soon thereafter began receiving an extravaganza of glossy brochures the cost of which must have negated the amount I donated. I won’t donate to that organization again.
ReplyDeletecharitynavigator.org gives breakdowns of annual revenues and how much is spent on "administrative expenses" American Red Cross pays their Prez over 900,000 almost a mil - not to mention what they pay the rest of their help. They are extremely overpaid in my opinion - even if Caryl Stern's base salary is listed on Charity Navigator at around $300,000 that may not include bonuses or paid sick time she didn't take off or paid vacation (one I heard of a school administrator that had 54 weeks paid vaction paid to him!! that wasn't reflected in his salary) that wasn't used or cars or other things maybe even rent in NYC. A lot of these charities are a way for some folks to earn really BIG $$$$ - check them out thoroughly before donating. Verify, if you can, where the $ is going. A lot of $$ from some of these charities go in the form of "grants" to other organizations like maybe Planned Parenthood, who knows? UNICEF usa's website is among the worst - little information on how the $ is spent - no link to a financial statement - no way to verify if most of the $ they spent on vaccines was in Africa or America???
ReplyDeleteThe reviews on Charity Navigator are interesting too. I have heard from other people that enlisted personnel got raw deals or no help from the Red Cross. I have also heard that they expected to be "paid back" for helping during disasters or donated to? Not sure but this is what I have heard from people. Prolly smaller church-based organizations are a better bet for $.
JAM said "After checking SNOPES, the salaries still seem way, way off the charts."
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that so many people are criticizing Fr for presenting facts that may have been inaccurate. What shocked me when I went to the Snopes site, is not that some of the original figures given were wrong, but that so many of the salaries for the leaders of charities are way above the average wage!
In fact, when I learned the true salaries I got angrier than when I first read Father's article. We need to be more diligent when we give money to charities to make sure it really is going to those who need it.
Interesting conversation and one reason why I almost never donate to non-Catholic charities. No UNICEF, no United Way, no Koman Cancer Fund. Every time I check into a secular charity, I find that either (1) too little money actually goes to the people who need it or (2) the charity is involved in morally objectionable activity (like United Way supported agencies funding abortion/contraception and Susan Koman support of stem cell research). It makes it easy to decline personal requests, too. I simply say that I limit my giving to Catholic charities and people either understand or just do not ask again.
ReplyDeleteThe Salvation Army figure would be for him AND HIS WIFE, who both work full-time-plus (in other words, cut that in half right off the bat). The other "compensation" includes use of a SA-owned house filled with SA-owned furnishings (officers privately own very little -- only books and clothing and decorations), SA-owned car, insurance, etc. -- not extravagant.
ReplyDeleteSalvation Army:
ReplyDeleteThat means they EACH make $120,000 annually. Is that supposed to make them look better? Give me a freaking break. We should all be so 'lucky' financially as to be called to ministry to the Poor. Then we too could drive Pasats and use our iPhones as we set godly examples.
Well, Catholic Charities has its own problems. Two-thirds of its funding is from government tax dollars. It is basically an arm of the welfare state in the USA. See:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.city-journal.org/html/10_1_how_catholic_charities.html
Here's another article showing questionable ethics in awarding honors: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=9754
Do a search. There's lots out there.
In my own diocese, we have a diocesan housing charity that was formed specifically to buy church properties to turn them into government-funded low-income housing. Yep, get rid of the churches and build and manage low-income housing. In turn, the housing monies are turned over to Catholic Charities to support Catholic ministries.
Quite a tangled web.
no, that is NOT what they make -- that is what their benefits are calculated as! it is NOT their house, NOT their car, NOT their furniture, but the SA's which they merely have use of while in that position
ReplyDeleteInteresting that the UNICEF annual report doesn't disclose senior staff salaries (unlike commercial companies).
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget that UN salaries are tax-free (or, if they are taxable, the UN pays the tax on top of their salary).
Also don't trust the raw salary figure; a UNICEF recruitment advert I found promised "competitive salary and excellent benefits package":
http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_50858.html
- for senior staff the non-cash benefits can be more valuable than the salary.