SF AIDS Fdtn Executives' Six-Figure
Salaries Continue to Rise
Every spring is the height of the fundraising season for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, when the agency spends hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting its AIDS Life Cycle ride to Los Angeles and the AIDS Walk in Golden Gate Park. Cardboard pop-ups litter the cafes and stores around town begging for donations, while promotional banners fly from utility poles. There always is plenty of funding for such marketing.
This year is different, it being the 30th anniversary of the first reported cases of what was to become AIDS, and SFAF is sparing no expense to creatively mark the occasion with full-page ads in newspapers and web-based banner spots, and placing a huge cloth red ribbon on Twin Peaks. All of that creativity uses the anniversary to solicit money and keep the foundation in business.
But springtime is also when SFAF makes its latest IRS 990 filing available for public inspection on their web site, and as is always the case whether revenue is down or up, and it's dipped 8 percent from the previous year, there is one thing you can always count on with the foundation's finances. Compensation for the executives always rises and this year's 990 shows no exception to that rule.
Let's go over who earned what last year at SFAF, among the executives named in the 990:
Mark Cloutier, executive director (retired)
$247,893
Marty Low, chief finance officer
$212,669
Judy Auerbach, science policy director
$195,612
Barbara Kimport, development director
$191,223
Peter Taback, communications director
$178,260
Christopher Damon, controller
$149,352
Larry Zapatka, operations director
$136,292
Christa Brothers, human resources
$131,166
Total compensation for these eight executives comes to $1,442,467, according to the IRS filing. Clearly, the decline in revenue at SFAF and the recession have had no impact upon the salaries of the top folks at the AIDS charity.
As the local media report on the 30th anniversary of the first AIDS reports and cases among homosexual males, with endless rhapsodizing over the "San Francisco AIDS model" delivery of care and services to people with AIDS and those at-risk of contracting HIV, I've not seen any mention about excessive salaries of executives.
It would greatly help mark this year's milestone if traditional and new media outlets would report not just on the splashy and glossy attention-grabbing red ribbon display on a hillside, or the bike- and walk-a-thons coming up, but also take notice of the where the money goes these days at AIDS organizations.
I know, that's not about to happen, but I can dream of well-rounded and expansive AIDS reporting.
Reports, proud muckraking, photos, videos and musings from the veteran LGBT and AIDS human rights advocate Michael Petrelis. Based in San Francisco since 1995. Contact: MPetrelis_at_AOL_dot_com. Vote Petrelis for BART Board District 9 in November!
3 comments:
Good points! Let's also not forget the over $300,000 per year salary that Lorri Jean of the LA Gay & Lesbian Center gets, another AIDS Life Cycle beneficiary agency, (for about 10 months of work per year, plus pension and 403-b retirement benefits on top of that), or her immediate colleagues who make $200,000 or more, and many others on staff at well over $150,000. Meanwhile, the line staff of that agency make "non-profit salaries" and they actually DO THE WORK. Most of the HIV-negative guys doing the AIDS Life Cycle would never even have a coffee date with one those (ewwwww!) HIV-positive guys anyway, but they get their "feel-good" moments by doing the Ride and being part of a "popular" event. It's rich gays giving money to rich gays/lesbians. Fine, but what about what's left over for actual SERVICES at these agencies? Then the clients are told to "not expect much in a Recession". And do you think there is a Town Hall meeting on on all this? Of course not. Until Lorri Jean works for about $150,000 per year and her staff is all below that, I'm not giving a dime to these agencies. Same with SF AIDS Foundation. Rich benefiting the Rich, and meanwhile the clients are under-served. As long as transparency is withheld, so my donations will be.
What parasites. Thanks for the info.
spread the news. folks need to know what the salaries are at SFAF when they donate to the aids ride or aids walk in july. they may still donate, but the may also ask questions about fiscal stewardship and belt-tightening at the top during these recessionary times.
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