Comparison of top executive salaries at BSA, GSUSA, AHG, and a rant....

[perdidochas]

Charity Navigator also lists salaries as reported on Form 990. The BSA Atlanta Council can be found here:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=5513

 

and it reports a salary (not sure what year) of $313,794 for Tracy Techau.

 

The 2011 Form 990 can be found here (officer compensation on p. 28):

http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/580/580566122/580566122_201112_990.pdf

So, on an $11 million budget, Atlanta Scout council pays it's exec $300K. On a $1.4 million budget, AHG pays it's exec $70 k. AHG is paying a higher percentage of it's income.

[Sentinel947]

Ya she is a Paranoid tea party member too......there is danger around every corner and everyone is out to get ME..........

 

Have you seen the movie Drop Dead Gorgeous. a comedy about a beauty contest in a small minnesota town..... the AHG remind me of the seen in the Talent contest where one of the contestant does a song and dance number with Jesus being crucified on the cross........ It is completely absurd.

 

We are White, WE Love Jesus Christ the only True God and the savior of humanity, We are Rich and the rest of you who don't believe in him, cough cough the mud races, are going to burn in hell......don't forget the sun screen.

 

 

Big news????? Nope.

 

I got news for you...If the AHG could afford a million dollar salary old Patti would be getting it too.......

 

Humans are greedy and cheating by nature......

 

 

As a member of one of the mud races........You can take the AHG and hmmmmmmm, use your imagination.

I'm amazed I got to read this before seeing a flag report on it......

 

Seriously Basementdweller, I know you don't like AHG. I don't like them either. I grew up in the town they started in. They aren't bad people. Any American Heritage Girl Parent I've met have been nice people.

 

Where did Georgia Mom imply that non Whites are inferior? If anybody on this forum wrote that kind of blatant racism, I'd be happy to use a ban-hammer. I haven't seen it, so I'm not sure where you keep pulling that race card from.

 

I get it, you don't like AHG, GeorgiaMom, white people, wealthy people, some Christians, and who knows who else, but that doesn't mean you have to post it out on the forum.

[Sentinel947]

If you read thru the respective 990 forms you might have gleaned some hints as to why the head of the AGH was paid so much less -

 

Revenue (income) - BSA $218,296,402 - GSUSA $105,217,626 - AHG $1,481,117

 

Land/buildings/equipment (before depreciation) - BSA $188,990,946 - GSUSA $78,966,745 - AHG $20,197

 

Total Assets - BSA $1,023,031,961 - GSUSA $186,228,734 - AHG $1,193,165

 

Youth Served 2012 - BSA 3,250,663 - GSUSA 2,291,425 - AHG 26,268

 

So to pat AHG on the back, and extol them for "making do", and being more fiscally responsible, is like comparing the local burger chain to McDonalds. There is just NO real comparison.

 

For a good portion of it's life AHG was piggybacking on BSA for many of it's needs, like training, and camps.

 

As for complaining that your District Executive (or whomever it actually was) did nothing to help when your PWD went belly-up, that is just down right silly.

 

The track, and the computer, do not belong to the DE, or the council. They belong to the Charter Organization, and the Pack.

 

The DE was not putting on the program. The Pack was.

 

Why would you think that the council person would know anything at all about YOUR PWD track, and computer?

 

It sounds like you had plenty of help, and expertise on your own. You did not need another inexperienced helper putting in their unknowledgeable 2 cents. Besides, if the council person had accidently made things worse because of his lack of knowledge, YOU would have been the FIRST to jump up, and down, on him for "ruining" YOUR Pinewood Derby! Personally, I don't blame him for not wanting to touch Pack equipment.

Thanks for doing the number crunching ScoutNut

[skeptic]

Still, most of us would agree that BSA's very top people are a bit overpaid, even on the council levels. When the top council exec makes anywhere from $150k to $350K, depending on its size, while most of the lower execs make average $50K-$70K, and the office workers are mostly minimum wage or slightly higher, they might consider some adjustments. With the retirement and health benefits in BSA, the top salaries are really high. To their credit, one of the reasons many lower level employees stay is because they too have access to better than average benefits. I live in one of the highest cost of living areas in the country, but most families still can live comfortably, if they watch their budgets, making $75K or more. Trouble is, that too many people think they should be able to live better than they need to. Guess growing up as the kid of depression parents and grandparents, I somehow learned that what you need and what you want are not the same things.

 

Point is that National and local councils could function better with some salary adjustments, putting more into the program and less into professional personnel. Possibly National could take a bit off the top people's salaries to pass down to ease the stress on the lower level execs in council, especially ones that have high living costs and cannot hold onto people long enough to have them function well. We have not had enough execs for at least 15 years now, which puts undue strain on those we do have; and we could cut the top guy a bit, but our council is no where near the higher levels some are, even though it is expensive to live here.

 

Will any of it happen; probably not. But, even if it did, there are some that simply hate National and Council because they are professionals and they are volunteers, so they would still not be happy. Personally, I feel we could function better if the old type commissioner staffs still worked. They don't though in most areas. Much of it has to do with time restraints on volunteers. But there is also a completely different viewpoint of cooperative efforts in the communities now. Far more people would rather throw money at something to NOT have to actually be involved, while too few still do most of the heavy lifting. My father told me once, years ago though, that even in the 50's nad 60's when I was a scout that only about 20% of parents did much, even to the extent of not having enough drivers at times.

 

Try to keep that idea it is for "the youth" in the forefront, and just persevere if you can.

[Eagle92]

Ok a few comments from a former pro. Can the BSA salaries for top execs be high, yep when you compare to the average working stiff out there like you and me. But when you compare to comparable level execs in the private, for profit industry, it's small potatoes.

 

I know when I was a DE, I had a bunch of friends who when they left, would double, and in one case triple, there BSA salary. I've stayed in the non-profit sector, so I've haven't lucked out like them.

[blw2]

so ballpark.... what does a DE make?

[skeptic]

Starting is in the $35K to $40K in our area; do not know if this is standard, but likely. If they hang on long enough, they get better, enough to survive with a small family in less expensive areas of the country. Been told the medical is exceptional, but someone else with actual experience would have to comment. No matter, DE is one of the least family friendly jobs you can imagine due to its hours and when those hours occur. Add in how many councils are constantly under the gun to stay in budgets, and the strain is huge. Have seen a number of young execs either quit to survive and have a life, or get divorced due to the stresses.

 

Still, actually better than the very early days. Read the book Men of Schiff to get an idea of back then.

 

Reality is that working in just about any youth serving position is not going to make you rich, and likely will only pay big in satisfaction when something really cool happens that makes it worthwhile. That goes for the volunteer side too of course; I mean the pay back for the time.

[Peregrinator]

Charity Navigator also lists salaries as reported on Form 990. The BSA Atlanta Council can be found here:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=5513

 

and it reports a salary (not sure what year) of $313,794 for Tracy Techau.

 

The 2011 Form 990 can be found here (officer compensation on p. 28):

http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/580/580566122/580566122_201112_990.pdf

That's certainly true. Personally I think an all-volunteer model (which is what Baden-Powell wanted) is best.

 

Although one could also point out that AHG serves over 25K youth on a $1.4 million budget while the Atlanta Council needs $11 million to serve approximately 30K youth. There's something to be said for that kind of frugality. Of course AHG doesn't own camps and whatnot and isn't responsible for developing them.

[Scouter99]

Let's look at it this way: Mazzuca was paid 34 cents per member. Garibay was paid $4.31 per member.

[Basementdweller]

Let's look at it this way: Mazzuca was paid 34 cents per member. Garibay was paid $4.31 per member.

So what your saying is that 17% of the membership fee, which is more than the BSA goes to pay the CE salary

 

where 1.4% of each BSA membership fee goes to pay the CE

 

 

hmmmmm

[qwazse]

Let's look at it this way: Mazzuca was paid 34 cents per member. Garibay was paid $4.31 per member.

Which membership fee? The 2010 one?

[Basementdweller]

Let's look at it this way: Mazzuca was paid 34 cents per member. Garibay was paid $4.31 per member.

using scout nuts numbers

[Old_OX_Eagle83]

Although I can't speak to the validity of the cited numbers, I have seen the salaries of top execs in large councils, and would not be shocked if number given for the CSE's salary is in the correct range. America is rifle with the issue of overpaid top execs, our non-profits are as guilty as any. I'm not excusing excessive salaries, far from it, but I'm not remotely surprised.

 

As members, we should expect full disclosure of the compensation paid to our professionals, and have a voice in approving those salaries. I imagine a 50% pay cut of every BSA exec, above DE, would not only not damage BSA, but greatly benefit it. Those funds could be used to give DE's, and grass roots level support staff, a 25% raise, and still have enough left to reduce Jambo and High Adventure base fee's by 50%, making these programs available to a larger group of scouts.

 

 

[Basementdweller]

I think council fundraising is boarding on stealing.

 

They are not delivering on what they are telling the folks who are donating.

[Pack18Alex]

The BSA top salaries don't seem that high to me. They seem reasonable for people running organizations of that size. I mean, our local Council Budget is 3.6M, I don't see how you could have an executive overseeing that competently without paying $200-$400K/year. Now, the level of competence is another question.

 

National puts out antiquated tools, so council is administratively heavy to administer them, that isn't helpful. But you're delivering a semi-consistent program to millions of youth with hundreds of thousands of active direct line volunteers, that requires some serious management talent.

 

One of the areas council should get better on, IMO, is providing managerial help to Scouting Units. Most Units are filled with gung-ho leaders, but most are teachers with the occasional other white collar professional thrown in. In the more "youth at risk areas" we have a lot of blue collar business owners as long time volunteers.

 

One thing lacking is the support/tools for running the Scouting Unit like a small business. Things like budgeting, forecasting, planning, etc., those are areas that most Units are very weak on and areas that professional talent could really help. Instead I see Council unable to adequately administer their business and unable to help Units grow/prosper.

 

I see pre-school teachers as Committee Chairs, and other things. My Unit happens to have a lot of management personnel in the leadership, but nobody else in our District does. Trying to help run an event had me wanting to cry, people not aware of how to run a budget or use a budget, how to encumber expenses, reimbursements, etc. The fact that we are organized through 501©3 Churches makes the finances get swept under the rug, which may prevent tax problems, but avoids running efficiently.

 

That said, you need crisis response teams, when volunteers like GeorgiaMom go off half cocked without knowing what they're talking about and terrifying charter organizations with what needs to be done.

 

When she posted her non-sense about tax issues (she didn't even ask the right person, Tax CPAs fill out forms, they don't answer tax law questions, she asked a CPA a tax law question and got an incorrect answer, because she asked the wrong question), I asked her what return the Pack wasn't allegedly filing that they were supposed to, and she deleted the thread, but clearly thinks she is still right.

 

Council/National have too many people, too many senior people, and too high of a cost structure, not uncommon for older established companies. They need to go through a massive restructure/downsizing, but they aren't enriching themselves at the public's expense.