Are you aware that the RCC is a non-profit entity that generates HUGE revenue?

How do you think they pay all of those $200 million, $500 million, and $600 million settlements for aiding and abetting child molesters?

Do right-to-life groups pay their administrative staff?

Laura, nice deflection attempt. Not biting. Stick to the topic, hard as this one may be for you.

what's the topic anyway? Hard working non-profit execs make good living? Newsflash.

what's the topic anyway? Hard working non-profit execs make good living? Newsflash.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

People who provide affordable, accessable health care SHOULD be rewarded.

How the hell did you get their tax returns Jill? Isnt that private information or something?

Hal, for 35 hours a week? Working for an organization that perpetually pretends to be shoeless?

Midnite, read the bottom of my post.

Hey guys, I need your opinions on things. The amnesty officers are going to have a meeting about the new abortion policy.

I need you to actually read the sexual and reproductive rights page on amnesty's web site:

http://web.amnesty.org/actforwomen/sexual_and_reproductive_rights-eng

Most of the things on there are no brainers (DUH, these are women's rights).

There is some ambiguity with decriminalization and a couple of other ones. They provide examples for these. The example for decriminalization seemed anti-death penalty, which amnesty is anyway. So we are inclined to think it means no death or torture for an abortion. But the ambiguity I guess is causing the problems. But Amnesty says that it does NOT mean abortion is a universal human right. Which again is ambiguous.

Do me a favor. Read through all of the ones you have questions over. Think about it. Tell me as a prolifer/prochoicer how you interpret it and what your ultimate conclusions are. Mindless "pro-abort" or "anti-choice" comments are everywhere, so that is not what we are looking for because it's not helpful. I welcome oppositions like "i wish they would remain neutral" or support like "it's a happy medium" like I am hearing a lot. But right now the only opinions we are coming across is the other Amnesty members (diverse but not many) and random people on campus that question us.

I need to report this on Saturday, so please please please, I need opinions. Thanks, I am really looking forward to this.

Jill: OOPS, missed that part. I swear my brain is dieing and working properly today. I think I need a nap...

And is taking sleeping pills two weeks in a row bad for you?

midnite678--yes taking sleeping pills two weeks in a row can be bad. You may want to call your doctor because there can be an underlying condition causing insomnia.

Well that was supposed to say not working properly. Told you brain has taken a leave of absence today apparently...

Jess:

Yeah my boyfriend is pissing me off. I know the underlying factor.

midnite--just don't take two ambien and only get 4 hours of sleep because you won't remember what you will do the next morning.

Also, make sure you are sober when you take sleeping pills because if not it will make you a little nauseous.

midnite...oh...hehehehehe..well, in that case tell him to knock it off!

Nah, I take Lunesta and make sure I have enough time for at least eight hours of sleep at night. I hate Ambien. Took it in high school. Never could remember anything from 8am til 10am. And that's not good while your in school trying to graduate :-)

midnite, hi. I agree with PIP and jessie. My friend blacked out on Ambien. I had a prescription for it once. It didn't help much. I take Sonata now.

"Yeah my boyfriend is pissing me off."

How is that situation going, midnite? If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, but I just wanna make sure evertything is alright. Later dude!

I just have a nice glass of wine or three.....I feel better right before I go to bed.

Yeah, I only take ambien for extra help. Normally I take clonidine, which is a blood pressure medication, but it does the trick.

Oh I LOVE my Lunesta. The only bad part is it gives you this really funky taste in your mouth. So if you wake up in the middle of night and chug a glass of water (which I am known to do even on sleeping pills), it tastes BAD BAD BAD!! It's the best pill I've ever had though. I take half of a 2mg tablet every night, and fall asleep within 15 minutes and only wake up once (if at all) during the night.

eh Bobby, it's not good at all. But I shall come out victorious one way or another :-)

midnite, can you tell me what you think of the new amnesty international policy?

Maybe this will get your mind off your bf ;)

PIP, which ones do you want an opinion on? Or does it matter?

Let me smoke a much needed cig, tell me which ones to answer, and I'll do that :-)

"But I shall come out victorious one way or another :-)"

Whoo hoo!!

Wait, there's no 'h' in woo...

Woo hoo!

There it is.

PIP -

I have to go start dinner, I will try to read it tonight and let you know. If I don't answer, it means I forgot....so harrass me.... okay?

Midnite -

Love the positive attitude.

I was on sleeping pills. I found that Benedryl worked fine and it isn't addictive. It doesn't put you out like a sleeping pill does, but it usually makes most people relax. This is what the Dr. had me take when they were trying to work out my meds.....

Just whatever you think about it, midnite. The main ones of our concern are the policies about abortion, which are pretty new.

As for the topic at hand....

What would be considered normal pay for someone who works for a non-profit organization?

I do think that if PP can pay over 1/2 a million dollars in sallary to one person than they should at least provide free pregnancy tests.....

valerie-

Will do :)

Valerie - I agree.

I don't see the logic behind paying someone who sits at a desk multiple times what someone who works a physically demanding and often dangerous job. Why do we do it? They don't "work harder".......is it just because that's what we've always done?

Check out the execs at Goodwill and United Way.

He's the highest-paid charity executive around
Among nonprofits, the CEO of Goodwill Industries-Suncoast Inc. makes more than most: $530,693 in 2003.
By EMILY STEEL
Published August 15, 2005

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

R. Lee Waits

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Things were looking up for Goodwill Industries-Suncoast Inc. Revenue was on the rise after some lean times in the aftermath of 9/11. A new plan for the nonprofit's trademark secondhand stores was set to provide more services than ever.

The corporate board attributed such success to its visionary leader, R. Lee Waits.

When it came time to set Waits' annual compensation that day in the late summer of 2003, the board deliberated for less than an hour.

Then it awarded Waits a salary of $304,974. And there was more: Under a contract Waits negotiated in 1992, the board paid another $200,000 into his retirement fund.

Along with other benefits, his total 2003 compensation was $530,693.

"We're feeling very pleased with the way Goodwill Industries-Suncoast has performed over Lee's tenure," said Rick Ludwig, vice chairman of the board. "It is a very, very challenging and difficult enterprise."

Waits, 65, is the highest paid executive of a social services nonprofit agency in the Tampa Bay area, according to a St. Petersburg Times analysis. But six-figure salaries for charity leaders are becoming increasingly common.

The average annual compensation of the top executive at the area's 10 biggest nonprofits, as measured by revenue, was $257,393 in 2003, the Times has found.

That includes the $408,730 paid to the head of Florida Blood Services Inc., Donald D. Doddridge, and the $110,583 in total compensation that Coordinated Child Care of Pinellas Inc. paid its executive director, Guy Cooley.

The gap between executive salaries at big nonprofits and for-profit businesses is shrinking, stirring national debate. Some contend that nonprofit organizations like the St. Petersburg-based Goodwill, which has an annual budget of close to $40-million, compete with the business world for talented professionals and need to pay them accordingly.

Others insist that every dollar spent on executive compensation is a dollar less for those in need.

"A half-million dollars for a budget of that size is a lot of money," said Peter Manzo, executive director of the Center for Nonprofit Management in California. "There are people running hospitals that probably make less than that."

* * *

Simply looking at Waits' 2003 compensation distorts the picture, Goodwill officials say.

Waits took a pay cut in 2002, after the economy tanked and the nonprofit's revenues sank. By 2003, said vice president of finance Gary Hebert, "We had to play catchup."

Board members said they based Waits' 2003 salary on his tenure, the size and complexity of the organization and a salary review that compared CEO salaries from 840 entities - nearly 80 percent of them public, for-profit companies.

The salary they chose for Waits, $304,974, is "not what I consider to be in the extreme," Ludwig said, and more than $7,000 below the survey average.

Board members stress that the retirement payment of about $200,000 made that year was a one-time act to restore Waits' retirement fund after the post-9/11 slowdown.

This year, Waits' base salary is $262,500, his bonus is $75,000 and deferred compensation is $26,250, for a total of $363,750.

By comparison, in 2003 the salary of the leader of the Tampa Bay area's biggest nonprofit, the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, was $249,000 - $55,000 lower than Waits' pay, not counting the one-time payment.

The hospice's revenue was $90-million that year, more than twice what Goodwill generated.

"I think we have always been clear that we are the steward of the public's money," Mary Labyak, the hospice's executive director, said. "We have to use it wisely."

Waits' salary also outpaced those of his counterparts in the area's for-profit businesses of similar size.

Of all Tampa Bay area companies with revenues within $10-million of Goodwill's, only one executive was paid more than $250,000 in 2003, the latest year for which data were available. The base salary of Walter M. Groteke, chairman and CEO of NetWolves Corp., which generated $25-million in revenue that year, was $275,000.

Goodwill's top jobs are just as complicated as similar posts at for-profit companies, said George Kessinger, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International, in Maryland.

"It takes someone with talent to manage something like that," he said.

But no matter how the board explains Waits' salary, it will be difficult to justify to the public, said Joel Orosz, distinguished professor of philanthropic studies at Grand Valley State University in Michigan.

"The complicated truth is hard to explain," he said.

* * *

More than a decade ago, the $463,000 annual compensation of the president of the United Way of America sparked unprecedented scrutiny of charities throughout the nation.

But as corporate scandals involving Enron and WorldCom grabbed headlines, salaries at nonprofits faded from the spotlight.

Now, once again, nonprofit organizations are attracting scrutiny.

Just last year, the IRS launched an investigation into tax exempt organizations to put an end to excessive compensation and benefits. The IRS contacted about 2,000 charities and foundations across the nation but "can't confirm or deny that anything has happened with regard to this organization," said Gloria Sutton, IRS media relations specialist.

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is reviewing a series of more than 120 proposed recommendations that would increase penalties and create more transparency in the nonprofit world.

Regulations already in place often go without enforcement, and the Internal Revenue Service doesn't have enough resources to prosecute allegations, said Diana Aviv, president and CEO of Independent Sector, a watchdog organization that suggests policies for nonprofits.

Some in the nonprofit world itself question high executive salaries.

Cooley, 57, has served as executive director of Coordinated Child Care of Pinellas Inc. for about 24 years. The organization had a $42-million budget in 2003, when his salary was $97,968 and benefits amounted to $12,615.

His agency's surveys suggest his salary should be $130,000 or $140,000, and his board pushed him to accept a larger paycheck. But he didn't want it.

"It just seemed like when you are working with economically disadvantaged folks, you want to get as much money out to the clients," he said.

That's what George Firrincieli assumed.

Firrincieli, 43, often shops at the Goodwill store on Gandy Boulevard in St. Petersburg. Looking at vases on a recent evening, he said he would have never guessed that the executive of the regional Goodwill was being paid more than $300,000 a year.

"You just expect nonprofit executives to make less," he said. "When you look at all the people working here, obviously they are not driving Mercedes and Lexuses."

* * *

Waits, in fact, drives a 2000 Audi A6, the company car. His wife, Gail, drives their gray 2004 Porsche 911 Carrera.

They traded up for the Porsche, and it is the only car the couple own, he said.

"I am a very private person," Waits said. "It is not that I am this flashy, extravagant CEO."

He said he is very uncomfortable talking about his personal life.

Waits grew up in Jacksonville and attended Jacksonville University for three years, leaving without a degree to serve in the Coast Guard. After returning, he married and worked in retail with his father.

By 1976, he moved to the Tampa Bay region and enrolled in a course about the medical aspects of disabilities at the University of South Florida.

It was then that Waits decided he wanted to go into what he calls the "helping profession."

He took a job as residence coordinator at the local Goodwill, earning a salary of about $15,000. Waits quickly rose through the ranks, taking the executive seat in 1989. At the time, operating revenue was under $8-million.

By 2001, Waits had restructured the business model of the agency's stores to better compete with discount retailers like Wal-Mart. He cleaned up run-down locations and started replacing them with superstore models.

By 2003, the organization had 1,200 employees who served 63,000 people and spent about $34-million on programs in 10 counties, including 18 store locations. Management and general costs amounted to about $4.5-million, according to the Goodwill-Suncoast's financial report.

The organization recently ranked first in the number of people served, first in the number of job placements and eighth in total operating revenue among the nation's 173 Goodwill organizations.

Waits said he is the kind of executive who gets into the office at 7 a.m. and stays until at least 7 p.m. When he goes on vacation, he takes his BlackBerry.

"Lee is one of the people that groups will look toward for thoughtful leadership," said Dave Barringer, vice president of marketing and communication for Goodwill Industries International. "He doesn't just get into a project to make money. He looks at how it will get back to the people in need. If it doesn't help them, he doesn't touch it."

Waits said he would take the job for less money. But his board says he deserves his salary.

"To cut to the bottom line, we are very satisfied, elated with what Lee has done," said Martin Gladyz, chairman of the Goodwill-Suncoast board.

Waits will be 66 in September and intends to leave by the time he's 70.

But even when retired, Waits will draw a six-figure income.

Under terms of a 1992 agreement, Goodwill will pay Waits as much as 70 percent of the average salary he earned in his final three years of employement.

If he waits until he's 70, the agency estimates he'll be paid $257,363 a year for life.

--Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

[Last modified August 15, 2005, 04:59:42]

He's the highest-paid charity executive around
Among nonprofits, the CEO of Goodwill Industries-Suncoast Inc. makes more than most: $530,693 in 2003

Does goodwill get my tax dollars? or better yet Does goodwill get my tax dollars to slaughter children?

I don't care how much money they make or what they pay their execs...I'm sure Brittany made more from that sad video...but I HATE that my tax money is going to support them under the false pretense that without it they'd go broke.

And actually Laura, no one in the pro life movement is making 600,000 dollars a year. That's because it's a movement and not an industry. Just like it "claims to be"...

Stop taking our tax dollars and you can give every employee a lear jet, for all I care!

amen MK

Sorry, but most CEO's and Doctors make that much money. Check the tax returns of other non-profits, esp non-profit insurance companys. Again, most doctors make just as much, if not more than the doctors listed on that tax return. They have large financial aid payments to make, and most doctors work very long hours, so the hourly wage doesn't equal a lot more than a regular worker, such as a nurse. Get your facts straight.

Does goodwill get my tax dollars? or better yet Does goodwill get my tax dollars to slaughter children?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My tax dollars were spent to invade and occupy and lose a war in the wrong country, and REAL children get slaughtered there every day.

Real children--yes I remember when my daughter was inutero..she wasn't real until she popped out...that's sarcasm by the way...

Go back to looney left land

and last time I checked...no one in our military makes a half a million dollars so I'm not quite sure the comparison between the military and goodwill but you just keep em coming sunshine.

jessie, nice to have you. Hellooooo, MK!

Laura,

My tax dollars were spent to invade and occupy and lose a war in the wrong country, and REAL children get slaughtered there every day.

Yes, but that's because we, the people, elected representatives to make those decisions for us.
As you so eloquently put it...That's what happens when you live in AMERICA!

And what would your alternative be? No military?

mk -good point...and abortion came about by some left wing nonelected kooks sitting on the supreme court bench.

Well, I've got my dose of liberal so I can skip Katie Couric tonight..hehehehehe....

midnight--i hope you get a good night sleep.

and last time I checked...no one in our military makes a half a million dollars so I'm not quite sure the comparison between the military and goodwill but you just keep em coming sunshine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yeah, and no one at Planned Parenthood makes a half million dollars, nor have they ever slaughtered a child.

And what would your alternative be? No military?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I believe in the military.
Perhaps they should be sent to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism. Maybe even defending the ports and air travel.

Perhaps they should be sent to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism. Maybe even defending the ports and air travel.

Maybe they should stand in front of PP and protect our children....

jessie, LOL!!

jessie, it's not a bad idea............

CEOs and the like make at least six figures in every company (non profits too). If they didn't the company wouldn't last long because it would mean that the peons were not making anything, which would not leave them very satisfied with their jobs.

"Murray Pelta made almost $650,000 that fiscal year."

geez, these licensed killers make good money, no bad for a non-profit.

Yeah, and no one at Planned Parenthood makes a half million dollars, nor have they ever slaughtered a child.

Reaaallly? "Murray Pelta made almost $650,000 that fiscal year." Unless that was rupees, I'd say someone made a half million...

And when did PP start slaughtering cows? I thought they did abortions.

Perhaps they should be sent to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism. Maybe even defending the ports and air travel.

If only Laura ran the world...:)

Laura, I am with you that directors of nonprofits serving the disadvantaged ought not to be making money hand over fist. You might consider reading "The Lords of Poverty," a real eye-opener about how some people live the high life on the backs of the poorest of the poor.

That said, I still stand by Jill's asserting that it's highly hypocritical for PP to pretend to be penniless when they're rolling in dough.

Christina, sounds like a book worth reading.

Did anyone check out the amnesty thing...

PIP, can you give us another day to review? I 'll read it tomorrow and give you my conclusions...

This goes to show you that while an organization may be "not-for-profit," there's nothing to say they can't spend that extra money on themselves!

Sure jasper. I can even move it up a few threads if you want to.

"And actually Laura, no one in the pro life movement is making 600,000 dollars a year"

I bet Dr. Dodson does....

"Sure jasper. I can even move it up a few threads if you want to."

yes, good idea...

PIP,
I put a little blurb on my blog back in May when the whole AI/Abortion thing hit the news:
http://milehimama.blogspot.com/2007/05/working-to-protect-human-rights.html

I just reviewed- briefly - the link you provided.
I posted some thoughts here:
http://milehimama.blogspot.com/2007/09/more-thoughts-on-amnesty-international.html

PIP,
I checked out the link and posted some thoughts on my initial reaction on my blog:
http://milehimama.blogspot.com/2007/09/more-thoughts-on-amnesty-international.html

I also posted on the AI/Abortion promotion when the story broke in May:
http://milehimama.blogspot.com/2007/05/working-to-protect-human-rights.html

Hal, they're a nonprofit. Look it up and let us know.

Non-profit college presidents make good money. Non-profit charities pay their presidents good money.

Non-profit does not mean necessarily "no money." It means no shareholders, and tax excempt, etc.

I serve on the Board of a non-profit. Our chief executive makes over $400,000 per year.

I would be pretty sure that the top names in the pro-life movement make serious money in cash and benefits(not that there's anything wrong with that).