Petrelis Files

DC AIDS Exec's 16% Pay Cut;
Salary = $334K

After years of receiving scorching criticism from people with AIDS, donors and supporters, local politicians and media outlets, Washington's Food and Friends executive director Craig Shniderman has voluntarily reduced his salary by a whooping 16.8 percent. That info was shared with me today by Michael Bento, board member of the org.

Just as I had been reading the dates of when GLAAD finalized its IRS 990 filings to learn when it became available for public inspection, I also read the filings for Food and Friends. That is why I knew August is the month in which the org completes last year's tax return, and I contacted the financial officer.

Here's the bottom line. Shniderman earned $333,857 last year, as noted in the 2009 return, compared with his salary in 2008, when his compensation package totaled $380,225, as reported in that return. This almost a 17% fall and is quite amazing.

An important note about some of the numbers reported in Schedule J, Part II, page 33 for Shniderman's 2009 compensation.

Column (E) states Schniderman received $598,146, but there is an asterisk leading to a footnote. This column "includes $246,289 in compensation previous reported on the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Forms 990s and does not represent compensation earned in 2009."

To arrive at Shniderman's package for last year, you subtract $246,289 from the $598,146, and the amount is $333,857.

If I gave out Gay Sunshine Awards, one would easily go to Food and Friends because they not only voluntarily post their IRS 990s on their site, they make four years' worth of tax returns available. The GuideStar site, per IRS statutes, requires only three years' filings to be publicly open for inspection. Food and Friends deserves kudos for the fiscal transparency, and going beyond the standards of GuideStar.

On the other hand, I think Shniderman's 16% compensation reduction still leaves his salary package too high for my tastes. To seriously impress me that he is truly sacrificing a big part of his compensation, I want to first see the pay drop to no more than a quarter million.

Taking home $333,000 not much of a step forward in reducing excessive AIDS Inc pay.