This blog is in reference to the following article:
Volunteers and Smoozeneers
After reading this article, I finish week 3 of my tenure as volunteer campaign coordinator for the organization I work for, heading up their internal charity campaign. I can't help but feel deflated in my efforts because it is stories like this that ruin it for the rest of us. The work I am doing is not compensated monetarily, but rather by fulfillment because of a deed from the goodness of my heart. All of the money raised through our campaign will go directly to charity. This does not seem the case for this donor generating giant.
Michael O'Mahoney recently resigned as head of Toronto's Sick Children Foundation. Since 2003, he has earned in most years $620K (U.S.) annually. This is more than your average specialist. Last year his annual income was slightly lower, only making $574K. The best part of this story is that O'Mahoney resigned and was given $2.4M as a severance. While O'Mahoney was in power at the foundation, expenses increased 31 per cent annually and donations increased 18 per cent. This does not sit well with your average volunteer or donor. O'Mahoney boasts raising $489M for the foundation while at the helm. The truth is that he did not do that alone. He oversaw a huge staff that executed large fundraising programs. It would be impossible for any one person to raise that kind of money alone.
A Lack of Transparency
The trust may well be broken for the people who support Sick Kids. This is mainly because these claims are coming out after a significant amount of money is spent on administrative costs. Charitable organizations strive for transparency. It is obvious this particular one has a deficit in that area.
It's not to say that a person working in the not for profit sector should not be paid for their hard work, but perhaps a more reasonable annual salary is in order. One can not go around asking people to donate their time and money and then pocket a substantial amount of the donations.
This is likely a wake up call for many organizations who are competing for charitable donations. It is typically thought that spending 20 percent of the donations is a reasonable amount, but depending on the circumstances, could be hard to achieve. An organization is lucky if they have a large 3rd party fundraising group that raises a ton of money for them and expecting very little in return. Sick Kids definitely would have opportunity to cultivate that with a donor database of 300,000.
Giving money to the right cause, used in the right way, is a very vital part of communities. Let us not get discouraged, let us learn from this.
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2 comments:
Macleans posted an article last year about the breakdown of how much of charitable donations actually make it to those whom the charity was organised for. The stats were nothing more than appalling, while as you mentioned, company CEOs of these foundations received a handsome salary but for what effort? Now I do firmly believe that there are many upper management individuals who more than deserve their earnings but in North America as a whole, profit and not accountability takes center stage. We see mismanagement daily in staggering levels from Wall st. To GM executives, who are not at all held responsible for any bungling at any level. Greed and turning a blind eye has become the standard to which our society is based, we have accepted it. You would assume that Revenue Canada would keep a watchful eye on the accounting practices of corporate charities but it does not due to legalities in the system, made by those who profit from it. Does the expense of Limosines and company jets come out of your charitable dollars? You bet it does and at an alarming frequency, but what you are NOT told will not hurt you. It happens every day in every city in the western hemisphere. It makes credibility for your efforts even harder when the media exposes this fatal flaw in something that should be a benefit to the underprivileged. Why do we just have a take it or leave it attitude in this country? Even the church isn't safe from the greed and temptation of what many believe is free money, as you will recall the case of former televangelist Jim Baker. It really makes me shake my head at a system that both you and I see daily. You will remember that I do fundraising for the Special Olympics yearly, but when a financial report was requested for the charity's dealings, we were given merely a total of the amounts raised and NOT a fiscal report as requested. Finally a general audit was done and much to my dismay only less than a third of all funds raised actually made it to the charity and its programs. The rest was broken down into what was classed as operating expenses and what I found to be staggering...another CEO salary that was totally unjustified. Accountability is dead, and it seems we do nothing to stop it.
Thank you Matthew. You are really up on your Not for Profit information. I appreciate your reply. The truth always seems to seep to the top. That is why transparency is so important.
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