1551: Game Change

[scottperezfox]

Regarding non-profits, the only true rules set down by law are they can't give shareholder dividends or executive bonuses, and they have to put all fees back into their operations or spend on their main charitable effort.

They can pay as much in salaries as they like, spend as much on operations as they like. In this case, the scandal was that only about 14% of their donations were ending up going directly to the children in Uganda. A reputable charity will have the reverse ratio, with no more than 20% of their overall donations going toward operations.

Chemda is right that many heads of non-profits make a great salary. In New York, the heads of most of the museums make about $400,000 per year. Same for the New York Public Library, many of the hospitals, etc. Most universities are non-profit, even NYU and Columbia which have tons of money in endowments, and they pay their Presidents about the same.

A few years ago, there was a bit of a furor when my University President's salary was revealed to be over $600,000 on par with Univ. of Penn, Harvard, Stanford, and NYU. The argument from the Board of Trustees is that our school was structured like a company, and he was, in essence, the "CEO" of Drexel University. Students weren't happy because those other schools are much more reputable and impressive, whereas ours was always under construction, facing cuts, and other hassles. (verify with Mark Malley, my old schoolmate)

But I suppose that's chump change compared to corporate CEOs who, make millions upon millions, even if the company fails.

[ipam45]

Yep, the CEO at the non-profit (which was also part of a public university) took in 400,000 + last year. one of the managers who was in charge of one student assistant and 2 full time employee took in 100K. I wouldn't mind working here for the rest of my life.

[JaymztheKing]

I love the 'Invisible Children is naive' argument:

"It is dumb to think we can stop a warlord when he'll be replaced by another. What we really need is complete and total economic infrastructure. Schools, factories, roads, cities, technology, a couple unicorns, that's the practical solution"

Let's all just agree that child murder is a bit more offensive than managing a poorly-run non-profit.

[sagzy]

Originally Posted by BrianAlt

I agree with you. We all should know everything. However, how can we? You are from the country. You are aware. Most people are not.

Do you think there are similar situations around the world that you're not aware of? We're all interested in continuing our education. Is it sometimes a day late and a dollar short? Usually it is! That doesn't mean people shouldn't be outraged when they first hear of it.

I understand that, and I applaud people who took time to learn more about it and are genuinely touched by this video. I guess it was the heat of the moment but I should have specified that the people who are driving me up the wall are the people who have known me for sometime and just spout nonsense without even bothering to ask me what its all about

[Blitzgal]

Originally Posted by JaymztheKing

I love the 'Invisible Children is naive' argument:

"It is dumb to think we can stop a warlord when he'll be replaced by another. What we really need is complete and total economic infrastructure. Schools, factories, roads, cities, technology, a couple unicorns, that's the practical solution"

Let's all just agree that child murder is a bit more offensive than managing a poorly-run non-profit.

They aren't naive. They are crass exploiters trying to rake in millions of dollars by manipulating college kids into feeling like they're achieving something by hitting a "like" button and making this video viral. Kony has been in operation since the 1980's. He was indicted in absentia by the Hague in 2005. In 2008, Bush supplied financial and logistic support, and in 2011 Obama sent more aid. The fact that most Americans never heard of a guy who has been torturing his countrymen for 25 years says more about Americans than anything. But the international community has been trying to deal with him already. Similar to other terrorist organizations, they've managed to kill off some of his highest ranking members but he moves around too much.

[JaymztheKing]

Originally Posted by Blitzgal

They aren't naive. They are crass exploiters trying to rake in millions of dollars by manipulating college kids into feeling like they're achieving something by hitting a "like" button and making this video viral. Kony has been in operation since the 1980's. He was indicted in absentia by the Hague in 2005. In 2008, Bush supplied financial and logistic support, and in 2011 Obama sent more aid. The fact that most Americans never heard of a guy who has been torturing his countrymen for 25 years says more about Americans than anything. But the international community has been trying to deal with him already. Similar to other terrorist organizations, they've managed to kill off some of his highest ranking members but he moves around too much.

Crass exploiters? prove it. Find me their invisible children yacht. Their 990 forms are legit. They make ~90k year which isn't that extravagant. I know cops that make more than that.

A big problem in this world is that people can't tell a well-intentioned dipshit from a scumbag genius.

[Robotron]

90k a year isn't that much. Goodwill is a non profit and the warehouse directors make 60-70k and they are pretty far down the food chain. The higher ups get 6 figures easily. And it still gives 85% of the earnings to its programs so clearly paying people to do good hasn't gone that badly.

[JaymztheKing]

where are you tin foil hat shit heads getting this exploitation from. Show me where Invisible Children is egregiously spending money. They state their cause of finding Kony and bringing him to justice. Then ask for donations. What the fuck is the problem? If you don't like no one is demanding you donate. Obviously I.C. are fuck ups in a lot of respects, but I don't see how that gives a genocidal child rapist a free pass. Must have a good lawyer.

90k is standard for a management/executive level position. The average income of 30-40k is because not everyone in America is managing an international non-profit.....you fucking mongoloid.

[JaymztheKing]

Originally Posted by BadDecisionDino

And cancer is worse than Susan G. Komen (another exploiter whose forms all added up). So what?

The difference is we aren't saying that cancer suddenly isn't worth curing because Susan G. Komen is a shitbag.

[denden]

Some of these points are lost on me...

Maybe these guys ARE well intentioned dipshits, there's no way to know without actually reading the guys mind. It still doesn't change the fact they seem to be highly irresponsible with the money that people donate to them. Again, reports say that over 70% of their income go to things like raising awareness(by making these movies and soliciting celebrities), as well as high amounts of travel costs, compared to other organizations where only 5% or less go to that. I'll say again there are much better ways to donate your money to help the people of Africa, from my own research I think BRAC is a great one for example.

The fact this guy makes around 90k a year(not quite sure where this was found, but I'll take your word for it) doesn't mean much. Not everybody is obsessed with money, and you'd be surprised how well you can live off of that much. Plus, as far I know, they don't have family, they seem fairly young after all, so they would only need to support themselves. [Edit: Sorry this is wrong, didn't watch video until Keith called it out, hopefully this doesn't invalidate the rest of my argument in anyone's eyes]

And I don't claim that economic infrastructure is going to solve all of Africa's problems, I was just stating that educating them is a much better course of action then capturing all the warlords that pop up, which would just end up being a much more violent version of whack-a-mole.

Edit: Also, I would like to say, I am not defending Kony, he's a despicable human being that deserves the worst death possible, so please do not throw the child rapist lawyer argument at me, my point is that putting him on some sick pedestal, is NOT going to make things any better, and it allows us to lose focus of the shit that ACTUALLY matters.