Highlights/lowlights include:
- The gross compensation paid the CEO ($683,000) and the COO ($398,000) total $1,081,000. If you believe this to be outrageous, egregious, ridiculous, you pick the descriptive term, let someone know. If you believe that the return on this investment has been negligible, infinitesimal, you pick the descriptive term, let someone know. I can tell you, it.just.gets.worse year-by-year-by-year.
- In fact, the 990 lists 14 -- that's 14 -- senior professionals who were compensated in excess of $175,000 in the relevant fiscal year and, of those, 6 were compensated in excess of $250,000. If compensation is supposed to be based on merit, you should evaluate who among this roster merit what they are being paid.
- Then there are the 22 (yep, 22) Consultants identified (but not named, other than those paid the most) compensated in excess of $100,000 in the fiscal year. Our new "friends," the NY communications/marketing firm -- SS+K -- was paid another $1 million. This is the consultant paid by a donor using JFNA as a conduit for something called the Project Connect Production, which, you may recall, was determined to be "Confidential" (as were all of the Consultant contracts) by Sandler/Silverman. This determination was made on an ad hoc basis with no criteria, no standards.
- You will be pleased to know that JFNA puffs up its revenues by including the passthrough funds allocated by federations to JAFI/JDC/WorldORT. It's as if JFNA has anything at all to do with these funds oher than to send them on, and in the case of JAFI, for UIA to vet those allocations. This, of course, gives JFNA a sense of its own self-importance even as it raises not a single dollar of those funds.
- In the 990 Part V, JFNA states:
"Schedule F, Part I, Line 2 - UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA, LAY LEADER COMMITTEES AND PROFESSIONALS EVALUATE EACH GRANTEE EXTENSIVELY, BEFORE AND AFTER FUNDS ARE DISTRIBUTED. THE COMMITTEES MONITOR THE USE OF FUNDS, ENSURING THAT ALLOCATIONS REFLECT THE PRIORITIES OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION MOVEMENT. FUNDING GUIDELINES INCLUDE THAT ALL GRANTEE ORGANIZATIONS MUST BE WELL-GOVERNED, COMPLY WITH GENERALLY ACCEPTED ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES, PRODUCE AN ANNUAL AUDIT BY AN INDEPENDENT FIRM, AND MAINTAIN BY-LAWS THAT CONFIRM TO LEGALLY ACCEPTED STANDARDS, INCLUDING PROVISIONS FOR APPROPRIATELY OVERSIGHT OF ALL FIDUCIARY MATTERS. GRANTEES ARE ALSO REQUIRED TO PROVIDE THE COMMITTEE WITH REPORTS ON HOW FUNDS ARE SPENT, AND THE COMMITTEES CONDUCT SITE VISITS AS NECESSARY TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE."OK then -- does anyone among you believe that JFNA itself is really doing this evaluation and vetting? Does anyone reading this Post believe that JFNA is capable of "...ensuring that allocations reflect the priorities of the Jewish Federation Movement"? (And, yes, UIA does approve/vet/monitor the dwindling Federation allocations to JAFI, among UIA's responsibilities.)
Yes, the JFNA 990 is always good for something -- just not disclosure.
Rwexler
Nothing new here. JFNA's 990 is a work of fiction with shocking twists and turns like an Executive Office that starts with the egregious compensation paid Silverman and Gurvis. This organization's 990 shows the total neglect from its lay leadership.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall that the IRS has some type of formulation to determine excess compensation in relation to revenues, outcomes, results, etc. Seems fitting to use it here.
ReplyDeleteThe IRS may have some algorithms it might apply but JFNA lists "revenues" on its 990s all of the funds that pass through to, for example, JDC or JAFI as if JFNA raised those funds. To my knowledge the IRS doesn't review "outcomes, results, etc." It leaces those measures and outcomes to the organization's Board; whch in JFNA's case is a complete joke.
ReplyDeleteAnon 6:10 said it all,'total neglect from its lay leadership'.
ReplyDeleteAnd we're into another year
I was under the impression that signing the 990 meant that you hold everything to be truthful to the best of the signer's knowledge. So that being the case it seems appropriate to request the backup documents that address the outcome of the oversight and evaluation and the JDC/JAFI/World ORT. As a former member of the ONAD committee when that was actually done I am not aware of any such evaluations that has taken place in years. It seems to me that there was some attempt to do that during the days of the GPT but that was several years ago at least. In any case my federation has not received any reports or evaluative information in years.
ReplyDeleteOver $1 million in comp to two professionals at the top of a food chain that is providing almost nothing to the system is criminal. I am forwarding this information to the NY AttorneyGeneral Charities Division. THIS HAS TO STOP.
ReplyDeleteSteps should be taken by the JFNA Board to assure that no sitting Officer or Executive Committee member shall be eligible to succeed Richard Sandler as Board Chair. These are the most responsible for the current state of institutional degradation. Only fresh faces who are willing to face up to the reality that the current CEO has clogged JFNA's arteries withincomeptence while being paid as if the organizational were successful and that he must go.
ReplyDeleteThe 990 is the clearest evidence of JFNA turning its back on its owners with their consent. The CEO and COO are feeding at the trough as if campaigns, for which they take no responsibility and to which they add nothing, are up when in fact they are flat or down almost everywhere. It's beyond comprehension why this is permitted. There is a Compensation Committee and the evidence is that they reward failure year-in and year-out. They should all be shown the door.
ReplyDelete