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


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After reading a few snarky comments about American Heritage Girls, where I am a local volunteer leader, I took a look at the salaries reported on Guidestar.org. With a free account, you can see the IRS 990 forms of any nonprofit organization for the last three years. I like knowing where my money is going.

 

Anyway, here are the numbers for 2011 except where noted, the most recent year available online for most of these groups:

 

American Heritage Girls, national office:

Top Executive salary (Patti Garibay): $70,651.00

 

Boy Scouts of America, national office:

Top Executive salary (Robert Mazzuca): $987,412.00

 

Atlanta Area Council of the BSA:

Top Executive salary (Tracy Techau): $364,000 (2012)

 

Girl Scouts of America, national office:

Top Executive salary (Anna Maria Chavez, took office in November): $177,652

Top Executive salary (Kathy Cloninger, left in November) $887,209

 

As a former leader and current parent in the Cub Scouts, I find the 360 paid employees at the Atlanta Area Council totally useless. Dead-wood.

 

I call to ask questions, and get no response and no help. Zero. Even last year when I was pack treasurer and found I'd been stuck holding the bag for seven years of unfiled and unpaid taxes by the pack AND the CO. Begged for help for months. Zip. Crickets. Oh wait, they told me a couple of times to shut up and go away, I guess that counts as communication.

 

After I went out and got advice from a CPA on my own time and did what my properly educated and licensed tax advisor told me to do, THEN the Council calls my house to yell at me because they wanted me to just sweep it under the rug. So much for "a Scout is honest".

 

Our Pinewood Derby was the weekend. We had technical difficulties with the track and computer that left the leadership scrambling for over 90 minutes with a roomful of agitated kids and younger siblings. Not fun for anyone. Parents are pitching in everywhere to fix the track, get the computer working, entertain the kids.

 

And the paid Scout Executive from the Council sent to observe did....squat. He just stood there and smirked. The only paid guy in the room did absolutely nothing. Because it's "all about the kids", right? I guarantee we will see much more energy from him at the Blue & Gold next month when he comes back to solicit for the Friends of Scouting drive. I will not be giving him a dime.

 

Oh, and it's always fun to visit the ironically named "Volunteer Support Center". Tax records show it cost over $40 million. It's huge. Here's a pic of our BSA Taj Mahal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atlanta_Area_Council_office.jpg Do we really need a 4 story foyer and granite on every horizontal and vertical surface, inside and out, in order to lead a program "for the boys"?

 

American Heritage Girls, on the other hand, makes do with only 36 paid employees in their (only) national office. When I call with a question, I actually get an answer! One tenth of the employees of our Atlanta BSA in the NATIONAL AHG office, and they do a better job. On much lower pay.

 

My son's Scout uniform cost over $100, plus a new book every year. My daughter's AHG uniform and book? $42. I love AHG. A girl gets one book when she starts, and uses it the entire time until she's in high school. Brilliant!

 

So, when we start throwing around words like "hypocrites" at AHG and Trail Life (which is too new to have filed a 990 yet), let's look at the folks who are getting the most done for the least compensation.

 

GA Mom

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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

You don't like the BSA. We know. Put your son in TrailLife, get over it and let it go.

After reading a few snarky comments about American Heritage Girls, where I am a local volunteer leader, I took a look at the salaries reported on Guidestar.org. With a free account, you can see the I

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.

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You don't like the BSA. We know. Put your son in TrailLife, get over it and let it go.
d.f., no point in being mean.

 

You'd be better off pointing out that there are two sides to every equation. Executives of non-profits justify their compensation relative to certain benchmarks. For example: # of million $ donors solicited per year, # of staff managed, how much more could they get doing the same job in the private sector, how popular they are with their constituents (and make no mistake, Bob M is very popular with the boys who've met him), etc ...

 

One could argue that Garibay's pittance represents the "glass cieling" to which many female execs are relegated. Or, it could be a long-awaited revolution in executive compensation that will allow here organization to out-compete similar groups for the hearts and minds of Americas youth. Only time will tell.

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You don't like the BSA. We know. Put your son in TrailLife, get over it and let it go.
I wasn't trying to be mean. Just weary of her diatribes and trying to give some advice. Why would you subject yourself to the organization that time and time again gives you fits?
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Mazzuca is retired.

 

Second, without a link, I really don't buy the salaries for the Atlanta area scout exec. This link shows the typical salary of a scout exec in the $40k range.

 

http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Boy-Scouts-of-America-Salaries-E7807.htm

The figures I quotes are from each organization's 990 form archived at http://www.guidestar.org.

 

With a free account, you can see the IRS filings and other info on any registered nonprofit. I check here when I want to make sure my donation dollars are being well spent.

 

I get that Mazzuca is retired. He was the exec when the most recent info available was posted. I doubt the new exec is paid any less handsomely.

 

Whether or not you find the numbers reasonable, they are the actual salaries taken from each groups' 990 filings with the IRS. Look under "Compensation of Officers".

 

Ga Mom

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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.

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You don't like the BSA. We know. Put your son in TrailLife, get over it and let it go.
Thanks, Qwazse. I don't think Patti Garibay's relatively low salary has anything to do with being a woman. The GSUSA chief exec makes even more than the BSA chief exec, and she's a woman.

 

Bloomberg's list of the highest paid female executives include companies like Hewlett-Packar, Yahoo, Intel, PepsiCo, etc. I think the glass ceiling is on its way out.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2013-08-19/the-15-highest-paid-female-top-executives-.html#slide7

 

Maybe Patti Garibay chooses to take a reasonable salary and make AHG all about helping girls be the best women they can be.

 

I find the bureaucracy at GSUSA and BSA bloated, way overpaid, and doing a terrible job of serving the children and parent volunteers. They serve themselves first, often at the expense of the families in the program. I don't see any gender bias here. Both execs are greedy.

 

Anna Maria Chavez even came out supporting the little Girl Scout selling cookies in front of a marijuana dispensary. The official GSUSA position on this is that as long as it's a "legitimate business" they "won't tell Girl Scouts where to sell their cookies".

 

Who in their right mind thinks that's an appropriate place to put a kid? Alcohol is legal too, and I have no problem with responsible drinking, but I sure wouldn't put my little daughter out in front of the local liquor store fundraising for AHG.

 

http://mashable.com/2014/02/20/girl-scout-cookies-marijuana/

 

Nor would AHG approve if I did, I believe. We church ladies are just not "cool", I guess.

 

GA Mom

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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.

Nice thanks for doing the leg work nut
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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

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