The Top 25 Paid Executives of the 100 Richest Non-Profits in Portland
Thursday, September 24, 2015
GoLocalPDX reviewed nearly 1,500 tax filings collected by the non-profit, media watchdog group, ProPublica who has been collecting and organizing tax filings from organizations who filed for any fiscal year — during the 2012 or 2013 calendar years.
SEE SLIDES BELOW: #25 to #1: Executives of the Top 100 Non-Profits in Portland with the Most Assets
In GoLocal’s previous coverage of the 100 non-profits with the most assets and the 50 non-profits with the most debt in Portland, medical centers, organizations, and colleges dominated the lists. The list of the highest earners saw more of the same.
Eight of the top ten earning executives worked for non-profits in the medical field. That includes executives from three different medical centers, the Oregon Health and Science University, Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center and Legacy Emanuel Hospital and Health Center.
Universities were also well represented on the list. While none finished inside the top 10, university presidents represented one-fifth of those on the list.
“At least bankers and CEOs of large corporations are honest about their rapacity,” Mark Alfano, an Associate Professor of Ethics at the University of Oregon, told GoLocal. “When the alleged leaders of charities plunder from funds that would otherwise go to helping people who are poorly off, the only appropriate responses are disdain and disgust.”
An Ethical Issue?
Ann Skeet, Director of Leadership Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University and the former CEO of the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley, told GoLocal she was surprised by the high salaries enjoyed by local non-profit executives.
“I didn’t realize that people who ran colleges and hospitals made so much money,” Skeet said. “It’s especially surprising if you consider that salaries for non-profit executives should be on the low side of compensation when compared to for-profit businesses.”
Aaron Renn, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told GoLocal that he questioned whether organizations who store millions of dollars as assets and pay their executives large salaries were really operating as non-profits.
“There's a legitimate question of well-endowed universities,” Renn said. "Are they really truly non-profit -- like a homeless shelter is a nonprofit -- in reality, no, but what are your criteria for determining a bona fide nonprofit versus an extremely wealthy entity able to generate a large endowment and high paid executives.”
“If your organization's mission is to help those in medical or educational need, then it is especially hypocritical to line your pockets at their expense,” Alfano said.
Alfano also said that there may be corruption or conflicts of interest on many of these non-profits’ boards.
“Beyond the direct waste of desperately needed funds on lavish salaries, these boards often end up suffering from groupthink and even outright corruption,” Alfano said. “If I'm on the board that determines your salary at one non-profit while you serve on the board that determines my salary at another non-profit, we both have an incentive to play nice with each other, not to ask tough questions, and to support raises for 'deserving' leaders”
More Competitive Industries
Larry Kaplan, who owns and operates an advocacy service for non-profits, told GoLocal that the importance of top-notch executives and leaders has risen sharply for charities in recent years, forcing them to spend more on their leaders.
“The biggest changes in the nonprofit world are twofold: first, the growing diversity of the community has diversified the client base of most nonprofits and put pressure on them to diversify their governance and leadership, as well as their fundraising efforts,” Kaplan said.
Patricia Schaefer, a contributor for Non-Profit Quarterly, agreed. She told GoLocal that in decades past, philanthropy was not an industry that attracted big names and big salaries, but that is no longer the case.
“Today we have a highly preemptive model of philanthropy and newer philanthropists and entrepreneurs want to see things happening on the ground now,” Shaefer said. “They want to be part of the mechanics of change, involving themselves in the creation of social change networks, as opposed to individual organizations.”
Editor's Note: This story has been edited to reflect two corrections. Constance French was incorrectly listed as the President of the Oregon Health & Science University Foundation. Keith Todd is the President of Oregon Health & Science University Foundation. Also, a reference to Doerenbecher's Children's Hospital was changed to the Oregon Health and Science Foundation. The Doerenbecher's Children's Hospital is part of Oregon Health & Science University.
Related Slideshow: The 25 Highest Paid Executives of the Wealthiest Non-Profits in Portland
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