GLAAD's $4.5M Deficit Over Last 3 Years

(Page 1 of GLAAD's tax return showing deficits in 2009 and 2010.)

On Tuesday, I blogged about the $2.5 million deficit reported in the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's 2011 IRS 990 filing. In response to my post, a longtime GLAAD watchdog offered this analysis:

I ended up writing an analysis/commentary with the headline: GLAAD = SAD (Spending Absent Donations) If you look at their direct mail/phone contractor, in 2011 they spent $401,000 and lost $56,000!!! 

No established group should do that, they should have an established membership base. But GLAAD doesn't. 

Also, if you look at the earlier IRS forms, over the last 5 years the only time they were in the black was one year with a surge of income, which I suspect was one or a few bequests. That is where much of their assets come from that they've been spending down. 

A credible organization would use such windfalls to either establish a revenue generating endowment and/or as a capital investment in creating new program activity that would be self-sustaining. But they just pissed it away. 

The Karen Ocamb story (gush, gush) at the Bilerico Project was interesting for the quote from Graddick saying they are becoming the PR firm for the community. Well, a client hires a PR firm, and judging from the lack of community support for GLAAD (i.e. membership and paying for it), the only people who have hired them are the corporate underwriters. 

 (Page 1 of GLAAD'S return for 2011 reporting a $2.5M deficit.)

Following the watchdog's advice, I looked over GLAAD's IRS 990s for 2010, which reported $450,343 deficit, and the 2009 edition and a deficit of $1,480,527, and saw a troubling pattern.

Over the last three years, GLAAD has racked up a $4,522,505 deficit.

Does a four-and-a-half million deficit sound like GLAAD is a responsible organization with its revenue?

Speaking of GLAAD's revenue, it looks like the Arcus Foundation has no interest in funding them anymore. From 2007 thru 2010, Arcus wasted $1,415,000 on GLAAD's useless programs and awards, and no grants show up in the 2011 list of recipients at the foundation's site.

Over at the Haas Jr Fund's site, records show they pissed away $550,000 on GLAAD from 2006 thru 2009 and gave no additional funding in 2010 and 2011.

What about money from the David Bohnett Foundation? It gave GLAAD $1,136,000 since 1988, but for 2012 all they've given is $4,500 and that was for GLAAD's inconsequential awards racket.

Maybe these foundations realized what many smart LGBT people have long known about GLAAD. It's a leech upon the gay body politic and not worthy of donations.

Another LGBT funder, the Gill Foundation, has made robust grants to GLAAD. In 2008 Gill wasted $5,000 on GLAAD, during 2009 the grant was $406,000, and in 2010 the amount was $308,000. Gill provides no 2011 or 2012 figures on their site.

One important way to look at such grants is that they artificially prop up GLAAD, when it has such miniscule support among average LGBT people. This is an organization for foundations and corporations to throw money at, and just because it's raked in millions does not equal a "community" organization with a purpose other than keeping paychecks going to staffers who should be working in the catering and awards industries.

A $4.5 million cumulative deficit over three-years sure doesn't tell a story that GLAAD's leaders are good fiscal stewards.

EDGE Media: AIDS Walk SF
Pledges to Cut 58% Figure for Expenses

My latest column for EDGE on the Net is now up on their site. It's about sifting through public records to follow the money raised through the annual AIDS Walk here that benefits many Bay Area organizations. I'd like hear your thoughts about ways the San Francisco AIDS Foundation can lower the operating costs for the event.

What would you cut from expenses to make sure more money reached people with AIDS?

As thousands of pairs of feet marched for AIDS Walk San Francisco in Golden Gate Park on July 15, every walker was showing commitment to people living with HIV, and a desire to end the AIDS epidemic. But after admitting that less than half of the funds raised by these walkers made it to the community, organizers pledged to lower these high operating costs.

"In recent years, some costs associated with producing the AIDS Walk have increased (e.g., permit fees, medical insurance for employees, etc), while the amount of money raised by participants has declined, resulting in an increase in the cost of fundraising ratio from previous years," explained organizers Craig Miller and Neil Giuliano of some increases in expenses.

Miller of MZA Events, which produces the pedestrian marathon, and Executive Director Neil Giuliano of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which organizes the AIDS Walk, reported that this year’s 26th edition of the annual fundraiser brought in $2.7 million for Bay Area service agencies. What Miller and Giuliano omitted from their announcement was the high estimate for expenses required to hold the AIDS Walk.

While the books have not closed for last month’s walk, at the request of the EDGE Media Network, the producers have shared final data for the 2010 and 2011 events, and explained some facts behind the figures.

According to MZA and SFAF’s public filing with the California Attorney General’s office for the 2011 event, total revenue that year was $2.8 million and expenses came to $1.6 million. This meant that 58 percent -- more than half of all donations raised -- were used for overhead expenses.

The breakdown of that $1.6 million figure in costs and fees included $450,000 in salaries for AIDS Walk employees. This was followed by programmatic costs of $392,000, fees or commissions of $212,000, printing costs of $159,000, advertising charges of $154,000, day-of-event rentals coming to $113,000 and a facilities charge of $100,000, in this grouping of six-figure expenses.

Additional overhead included $38,000 for fundraising incentives, $26,000 in telephone costs, $21,000 in postage and $14,000 for permits. No funds are spent on celebrities or entertainment, because the performers donate their time for a good cause.

The 58 percent overhead costs for the 2011 walk was a slight jump from the 52 percent overhead in 2010, which Miller and Giuliano explained was due to increases in permit fees and medical insurance for employees.

Regardless of these increases, this overhead is excessive. According to BoardSource.org, many organizations boast that they spend only five or six percent of their funds on overhead, while other well known and effective nonprofits generally spend 25 or 30 percent on overhead.

It is also a great leap from Miller’s early efforts, when he told the LA Times he had kept 1995 AIDS Walk Los Angeles overhead costs at just 21.5 percent. SFAF Executive Director Neil Giuliano and MZA event Craig Miller pledged to lower overhead costs  

A History of Mismanaged Funds

In 2010, nonprofit watchdogs complained that the $700,000 grant from AIDS Walk revenue to the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation (a charity whose focus is international scope and provides no services in the Bay Area), was money that should have stayed local. Miller and Giuliano said the diversion of revenue to that charity has ended.

"Pangaea is no longer affiliated with San Francisco AIDS Foundation. It became its own stand-alone non-profit in November 2010. Previously, we provided grant support to Pangaea. Our last grant to Pangaea was in 2010, at which time we removed it from our website and marketing materials," they said.

A leading rainmaker for the event, Max Kirkeberg, who lost one longtime partner to AIDS and whose husband is living with HIV, expressed his strong support of the walk, regardless of high expenses.

"I have participated in every walk except the first, and have been team captain of a church-and-school team for 13 years that has raised just under $600,000," said Kirkeberg. "Why do I do it? Because the SF AIDS Foundation is the biggest outfit supporting folks with AIDS and working to prevent HIV transmissions. Yes, it costs too much to produce an event this big, but if it raises lots of money for local agencies, then it is worth it."

Invoking the controversial expenses of the Dan Pallotta TeamWorks organizing of the SF AIDS Foundation’s AIDS Rides in the 1990s, John Iversen, who has lived with HIV for more than 30 years and is a member of ACT UP/East Bay, offered suggestions to cut expenses for the walk.

"It took a lawsuit, but the Foundation finally dumped Pallotta and now does the rides on their own after being burned big time on costs. SF AIDS Foundation needs to dump Craig Miller like they dumped Dan Pallotta and do the AIDS Walk on their own," said Iversen. "I think their staff has the skills and is compensated enough to do it on their own. I wonder how much money has been squandered using MZA Events, money that should have gone to direct services for people with AIDS or prevention programs?"

When asked if the foundation and MZA Events would post the data on expenses on their websites for easy and full transparency to walk participants and donors, they declined to do so, and noted the data is on the state Attorney General’s site. Annual reports on commercial fundraisers are published here.

Responding to the criticism that the 58 percent figure for 2011 AIDS Walk expenses was uncomfortably high, Miller and Giuliano made a promise to lower costs.

"We share the same goal: to maximize the amount of money and awareness raised in the Bay Area’s response to HIV/AIDS," they said. "We are working hard to get [expenses] back down, and are very committed to doing so."

Tax Returns:
Romney, 6 vs. LA Gay Center & AHF, Zero

(Romney's site includes four tax returns.)

Last August, I urged Lorri Jean and Michael Weinstein of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Center and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation respectively, to adopt a modicum of fiscal transparency and post their three most recent IRS 990s. My urging was ignored and the $43 million gay center, via media rep Stevie St. John, had a most laughable reason why the were happy with financial darkness:

I’m responding to your inquiries regarding the Center’s website. We post our Annual Reports on the site each year, including our financials, but not the voluminous 990’s. 

Oh, the burden of 40 or so pages of an IRS filing on a multimillion dollar "community" agency. Imagine the laughter from here until election day, when he loses the race, if Mitt Romney dared to withhold sharing more of his tax returns on his site because they are voluminous.

Today, I requested the LA center's 2011 tax return which they filed in May with the IRS, and the AHF's 2011 filing submitted to the feds in July. By federal statute, both organizations are required to make those returns open for public inspection upon written request and neither complied with the statute. Of course, both groups fail to post even a single year's IRS 990.

Which gay and HIV organizations post 990s on-site and comply with laws on requests? Just a sampling. PFLAG, SF gay center: 9 years. Aestrea Foundation: 5 years. NYC gay center, AMFAR and Lambda Legal: 4 years. SF AIDS Foundation, National Center for Lesbian Rights: 3 years.

The LA center posts seven years of propagandist annual reports and maintains a "silence = best policy" regarding even mentioning IRS 990s. I'd post a screengrab from annual reports from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which had revenue of $97.2 million, yeah, nearly $100 million, but their site lacks 990s and annual reports.

(A trust and foundation tax return, three federal monetary disclosures from Romney.)

(Six financial disclosures from Massachusetts courtesy of the Romney campaign.)

Over at the Romney campaign site, the GOP presidential hopeful posts a single year's estimated tax return for himself and wife Ann, their 2010 return, three of their trust returns, one foundation return, three federal disclosure forms, and six Massachusetts state financial disclosures.

I repeat my plea to Lorri Jean and Michael Weinstein. Post your three most current IRS 990s, including your already filed 2011 editions, on your sites and catch up to the financial transparency of Romney.

A final note to reporters at the LA Times, Frontiers LA, the LA Weekly and bloggers in Southern California. When was the last time you asked the gay center and AHF for their 2011 990s? How about surveying the sites of several gay and HIV groups in your region, seeing who discloses returns and how current they are?

Let's spread the gay sunshine!

Plaza Pigeon Poop Cleaned;
Birds Quickly Befoul News Rack

Recapping, as a person with AIDS I've launched an effort to end hazardous bird pooping on the empty and nuisance news racks at Market and Castro Streets. Details here.

A reader informed me that Supervisor Scott Wiener's aide for public spaces in District 8 is Andres Power, who does not live in the district, heck, doesn't live in the city, but instead resides in Oakland. Power most likely in the morning takes BART from the East Bay to Civic Center, strolls along Grove and Polk Streets to get to his job at City Hall, then reverses his route home and perhaps not daily passing through Harvey Milk Plaza or the district. This may explain why Wiener's office has surprisingly not made any discernible moves to eradicate the pigeon poop public health hazard in the public plaza.

Let's get to the various and terrific quick moves by folks at the Department of Public Health and Department of Public Works to rid the gateway of LGBT America of disease-riddled animal poop. First up is DPH director Barbara Garcia:

Hi Michael. I'm on vacation this week. I have [contacted] our representative from DPH environmental health and a DPW representative. Richard Lee of DPH could inspect and then work with DPW on this. Thanks.

From Darius Kayhan of DPW's street environmental bureau:

Monday: The news racks are Clear Channel’s responsibility. We will get this cleaned up. Tuesday: My team cleaned it all up last night. 

From DPH environmental inspector Nader Shatara to DPH's environmental health regulatory director Richard Lee:

I will enter this complaint into our database and pass by today to post signs and evaluate. I will follow up with recommendations.

This came from DPH director Mohammed Nuru:

Michael, It is a priority for DPW to keep all public plazas clean, beautiful and functional for our residents and visitors. As we do in all cases across the City, we devote resources where they are needed the most to respond to cleanup requests as they come in, and we work with the appropriate agencies and residents to keep the plazas clean. Thank you for your attention to this matter. DPW also works to educate the public that feeding pigeons can be harmful to neighborhoods and to the birds via this link: http://www.sfdpw.org/index.aspx?page=1329 .

The last DPH communication today is from Nader Shatara:

Pigeons were noted in the area on top of the street light pole above the news stands in question. Although pigeon spikes/wires would help deter the pigeons, an incentive for pigeons to stay in the area will always exist if people keep feeding them. According to a neighboring business operator, pigeon feeding exists on this corner on a regular basis. 'No Pigeon Feeding' signs were posted on the southwest corner and southeast corner of this intersection. Clear Channel will be contacted to do their part in keeping the area clean. Structural pigeon deterrents are affective to a certain point, but if pigeon feeding is the root of the problem, then the discontinuation of feeding pigeons will have better results. 

And if feeding is not THE root, but a contributing over all factor then we must have a more expansive view of several solutions working in combination smoothly.

I am grateful quite a few folks at two city agencies yesterday and today wasted no time in starting to address this problem. My response to DPH's Shatara is that a two-pronged approach is needed. Spikes on lampposts and Muni cables deterring birds from landing, and posters deterring humans from littering the plaza with bread crumbs.

Andrea Aiello, executive director of the Castro Benefit District, has been copied on all of the emails and I've suggested that the CBD work with DPH and DPW to jointly fund installing more bird spikes at Milk Plaza. 

On my inspection of Milk Plaza this afternoon, I snapped photos of the useless clutter known as the news rack with stubborn old poop stains not totally removed by DPW's cleaning, new droppings since last night's scrubbing, and the street lamp and pole caked in poop. The lamp and pole are in immediate need of spiking.

IRS 990: Barrios' Final Pay = ?;
GLAAD's $2.5 Million Deficit in 2011

The worthless media and Hollywood lapdog known as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation without any fanfare posted their IRS 990 for 2011 to their site and it's not a pretty financial picture. I last wrote about GLAAD in January when they laid off a quarter of their staff and I sure as hell wouldn't mind seeing every staffer finding more suitable employment as producers of meaningless awards shows, and the group going out of business.

The new IRS 990 shows revenue in 2010 was at $6.5 million, expenses came in at $7.0 million and GLAAD ran a deficit of only $450,000.

In 2011 revenue fell to $4.1 million, expenses jumped to $6.6 million and the deficit skyrocketed to $2,591,635.

A two-million, five-hundred ninety-one thousand, six-hundred thirty-five freaking million U.S. dollars in deficit. That's a lotta coin!

Net assets were listed at $9.5 million two-years ago and dwindled to $7 million last year. Nice that GLAAD had such a reserve to dip into to keep paying the staff their salaries.

Speaking of compensation, how much did controversial former executive director Jarrett Barrios rake in before he was canned?

The page above says it was a total of $233,673. He was enormously over-paid for his incompetence and arrogance, but he did look good in a tux on the GLAAD red carpet. Simply outrageous.

This page reports that Barrios' received a severance payment of $62,500 to say good-bye to GLAAD. I believe the severance payment was added to the $233,673 amount making his final check from this group that is a leech upon on the LGBT body politic a grand total of $296,173. Almost $300,000, and for what?

If I've made a mistake and the severance payment was included in Barrios' $233,673 check, the question remains the same. For what did he deserve this kind of rainbow parachute?

Since GLAAD is the farthest thing from a responsible LGBT advocacy organization and long has lacked a commitment to democratic engagement, there will be no public meeting with the group's leaders to discuss the new IRS 990.

And the Gay Inc beat goes on . . .

DPH & Pigeon Poop:
Milk Plaza Health Menace to PWAs

 (Bird poop smeared on lamppost rainbow flag, Castro and Market Streets, the heart of LGBT America.)

The following request for help was sent today to Barbara Garcia, MPA, the director of San Francisco's Department of Public Health. It's my sincere hope that she agrees to immediately deal with the problem laid out here. Once I hear back from her, I'll present an update.

Dear Ms. Garcia,

As a person living with AIDS and an LGBT community advocate quite concerned with public health risks for all people with compromised immune systems, I turn to you for help developing a sound public health response to the outrageous menace of pigeon droppings befouling a sizable section of Harvey Milk Plaza.

The problem is bird poop presently and regularly covers much of the wide top of one of the empty news racks near the Market Street pedestrian walkway, pictured. Every day hundreds of San Franciscans and guests from out of town stand near this useless street furniture cluttering the sidewalk and the disease-riddled droppings, speaking with friends or enduring long waits for a Muni buses.

Frankly, the droppings are twice as gross up close than in photos.  

The red brick sidewalk in front of the useless news rack, is splattered with more droppings. In recent I saw one toddler accidentally tumble onto the infested sidewalk, to the horror of her concerned parent.

I believe it is the duty of the Department of Public Health to direct city resources to clean up the disease-spreading fecal matter posing many risks to folks with good health and those who are immune-challenged.

My first suggestion to rid Harvey Milk Plaza of the droppings is for you to convene a meeting of the following stakeholders:

1. DPH environmental disease and safety experts
2. Department of Public Works cleaning crews for the plaza
3. Myself and other District 8 people with AIDS
4. Members of the Castro Benefits District
5. A representative from Supervisor Scott Wiener's office

We need to address having the entire plaza immediately steam cleaned, as the first step. Next, the city must install bird control spikes on all wires and structures upon which a bird can land, sit and poop above Harvey Milk Plaza and Jane Warner Plaza to prevent pigeons from creating a risky health situation.

You may be wondering why I am not turning to Wiener first for assistance. The answer is that he has made it known he and his staff will ignore anything I have to say regarding Harvey Milk Plaza because of my continuing campaign to reclaim the rainbow flag at the city-owned plaza, every square inch of which belongs to the people of San Francisco.

Since he and his staff have not returned an email or call of mine in 18-months, there is no reason for me to approach him directly about the droppings. However, if his office is willing to work with DPH, DPW, myself and others to rid the plaza of the longstanding and disgusting befouling bird poop, I would welcome his assistance.

I will follow up on this note later today with a phone call to your executive assistant. Looking forward to collaborating with you and health department to address this problem.

Best regards,
Michael Petrelis

Piss Policies: 
Daley's Buck Bar; Castro's Free Toilet

The San Francisco Crapical newspaper recently published stories about human poop and piss problems at the 16th Street BART Station plazas and on the elevators at BART's Powell Street station. In classic yellow journalism style, so fitting that the Chron is now owned by one of the best practitioners of such reporting, municipal melodrama and hyperbole are employed to whip up reader anger at a stigmatized population.

I'm not at all suggesting that the homeless and others who relieve themselves at these public transit stations are to be forgiven for their filthy ways, but the important matter of there are no public toilets for _anyone_ use at BART plazas and stations within the San Francisco city limits is not addressed in the two cited articles.

Sure, it's laugh-inducing to think the Chron might get around to writing about why solutions to open existing (but closed because of fear of Osama bin-Laden) restrooms, such as those in BART and Muni underground stations or elsewhere on the public property they occupy. Heck, even funnier to think they might editorialize about levying fees on downtown developers and tech businesses receiving tax breaks and exemptions for funds to build new public toilets.  

While we wait for the day the Chron returns to being a responsible civic voice for ALL of the city's residents, let's look at two places where folks can find a free place to take a piss.

In the Castro, the kiosk toilet near Jane Warner Plaza at Castro and Market Streets, now longer requires a quarter or token to use. I used it today for the first time. Happy to report four slightly-tipsy 30-somethings were ahead of me and welcomed the chance to pee without having to buy a drink in a bar.

There are no signs on the toilet telling passerby, locals and tourists, that they can use the toilet. Supervisor Scott Wiener and the Merchants of Upper Market Castro should publicize the free toilet and maybe the homeless people at Harvey Milk Plaza would stop pissing at the flagpole.

Down at the Buck Tavern on Market and Gough Streets, owned by former supervisor Chris Daley, there's sign at the entrance saying only patrons can use the restrooms. I emailed Daley, who championed many homeless issues while on the Board of Supervisors, and asked what his policy was about homeless individuals peeing at his place. His reply:

I think that sign went up during Pride. We had a line for our bathroom out the front door. I understand that folks need to go to the bathroom, but that was a bit disruptive in the space. Several of the homeless folks in the neighborhood use our restrooms and some of them patronize the establishment. 

As you know, most folks are respectful. With that said, like everyone else in the area, we've had problems with some drug use and a few occasions where bathrooms have been trashed. So pretty much it is the call of the bartender on duty. There certainly are a few people who have not respected our space and/or staff and are not welcome in our spot. 

Sounds like a flexible policy and before I contacted Daley, I went into the tavern and asked the woman behind the bar what the deal was with the sign. The first thing she said to me was that it was OK to take a whiz and it wasn't necessary to get a beer first.

At the Castro Benefit District meeting on August 9, executive director Andrea Aiello spoke about Muni moving slowly to finally use a federal grant to install closed circuit surveillance cameras at the Castro Street and Church Street underground stations. I said the CBD should push Muni to reopen the restrooms at the stations, restrooms with entrances soon to be camera-monitored, would have a layer of security if terrorists tried to use the restrooms for bad purposes.

Now that the Chron has identified some public poop problems affecting us all, would be great for the rag to report on where the homeless and general public can take a piss without creating a public health hazard and how City Hall will devote resources to build new places to pee.

SF Flags at Half-Mast for Educator;
No Lowering for Sister Boom Boom

A longtime member of the City College of San Francisco's board of trustees, Milton Marks III, passed away on Thursday after a valiant fight against brain cancer. I liked Marks' platform when he ran for a trustee slot and happily cast my vote for him twice.

Out of respect to his survivors, and his years of dedication and volunteerism on behalf of City College students and faculty, something simple would be done. The school's public information officer "said the flags of the college will be lowered to half-staff in honor of Marks", according to a story in today's San Francisco Examiner by Dan Schreiber.

Compare the quickness and ease of those flags being lowered on city property with what didn't happen this week in the Castro district, due to the pathological opposition of Supervisor Scott Wiener and the Merchants of Upper Market/Castro.

First, the rainbow flag on city grounds at Harvey Milk Plaza flew at full-mast, despite a proclamation from President Barack Obama ordering flag-lowerings in sympathy with the Sikh community of Wisconsin after last week's tragic gun violence and deaths. There was also an order from Mayor Ed Lee "that flags on all City grounds and buildings be flown at half-staff until sunset, August 10, 2012."

In a clear sign of disrespect to the Sikh community, President Obama and Mayor Lee, Wiener and MUMC refused to lower the LGBT community flag at Market and Castro Streets.

Second, the Harvey Milk Plaza flag was not flown at half-mast as a sign of respect and honor for Jack Fertig, alias Sister Boom Boom. Like many LGBT people in these parts, I knew and admired Fertig over the years in his many incarnations. I was saddened to read Liz Highleyman's story/obituary in the Bay Area Reporter about Sister Boom Boom dying last Sunday after a long struggle with liver cancer.

Did Wiener and MUMC bother to honor Fertig with a simple and powerful rainbow flag lowering? Of course they didn't. They claim it's such a burden to insert a key into a control and spend five minutes lowering the flag, and that tourists would be upset seeing it at half-mast.

It's revolting the endless excuses Wiener and MUMC cite for retaining their illegitimate control of this important piece of public property and why they can't work with grassroots activists to use the rainbow flag to honor our dead and presidential and mayoral proclamations.

When will Wiener and MUMC end their unreasonable refusal to allow the local LGBT community control of _our_ public property? How many of us have to die and presidential and mayoral proclamations decreed before this abhorrent situation changes?

Griffin's Salary at HRC = $379,000

I just got off the phone with Fred Sainz of the Human Rights Campaign. Long story short, we had a fabulous and frank discussion about a lot of issues, including the rainbow flag problems at Harvey Milk Plaza. We both committed to more communication between us and laid out which each is coming from. When I got off the phone, this substantive reply was waiting to be read.

Previous posts on these matters are here, here and here. Hey Fred, thanks for the info and I'll be in touch!

Thanks for your emails. Our response to your points appears below:

1. Thanks for the question on our 990’s. You make a good point on the labeling of the page. As such, the page has now been relabeled so that it communicates that our 990’s are also posted here. Additionally, HRC has now posted three years of 990’s on this page. You may also be interested to know that we also have 13 years of Annual Reports posted, all of which include Statements of Financial Activity, for both HRC and HRCF. The information provided in these reports is quite comprehensive and clearly indicative of our commitment to transparency.

2. We will post our 2011 990 as soon as it is submitted to the IRS.

3. Chad’s salary is $379,000. Consistent with best practices, our board reviewed compensation surveys that established this compensation as reasonable for the position of HRC president given the necessary job qualifications and the extensive work of the organization. As part of its consideration, the board reviewed data from a number of sources, including data prepared by the American Society of Association Executives. This salary survey found that the median salary of CEO’s heading individual membership organizations with 101 or more staff was $379,317. CEO compensation can also be assessed by comparing the CEO salary to the total budget of the organization they manage. Chad’s salary is .85% of our total FY13 budget. I think if you were to apply this filter to other LGBT organizations, you’d see that we would compare very favorably.

[FYI: The 2010 IRS 990 shows that former director Joe Solmonese that year earned $280,000. -michael.]

4. We are always communicating with our membership, our supporters and the community we serve. We will continue to find ways to better that two-way communication. There is no plan at this time to have a town hall.

Griffin's Pay Still Unknown;
HRC Quietly Posts 3 Years' IRS 990s

The Human Rights Campaign may have 150 employees and a $40 million-plus annual budget, but they can't afford to reply to my easy questions last Friday to executive director Chad Griffin about fiscal transparency matters. Sure, HRC deputy Fred Sainz emailed a few vague promises of a substantive reply, but he hasn't keep his word.

Today, HRC has quietly granted some of my requests. I asked them to post nine years' of IRS 990s, just as PFLAG and the San Francisco LGBT Community Center do, and to clearly label them 990s. At their Annual Reports page, HRC has published IRS 990s for three years for themselves and the HRC Foundation.

While it's disappointing HRC is not yet in league with PFLAG and the SF center regarding fiscal transparency, today's development is a small step in the right direction.

Yes, there's a new boss at HRC but in terms of dealing with their critics in a respectful and fruitful manner the operative mode is still SOS - same old shit. Joe Solmonese may be gone but the lack of grassroots engagement and elitism, and devotion to never giving the appearance that activists have persuaded HRC to make a change, remain as strong as ever.

Unfortunately, my other questions regarding posting the latest IRS 990 that will be filed with the federal government before the month of August is over, Griffin's compensation and whether he'll hold a public forum in San Francisco still have not been addressed by Griffin or any one of his 150 staffers.

What is Griffin's salary and why is HRC so reluctant to release that info?