Several months ago, we examined the HumaneWatch myth that claims that HSUS
pays its employees “lavish” salaries. That myth was thoroughly debunked, but HumaneWatch has never been an organization that let truth stand in the way of a good fiction.
Recently, HumaneWatch’s primary source of hot air has begun distributing a chart of Wayne Pacelle’s salary. In an attempt to make those numbers look bigger and scarier, they’ve resorted to tallying up fifteen years of compensation into one sum.
I wonder how much money HumaneWatch creator Richard Berman has made off “donations” to his “nonprofit” organizations in the past fifteen years? Considering that the three million dollars in cash he plunked down for a house outweighs the sum of all of Wayne Pacelle’s compensation at HSUS combined, I’m guessing it’s a substantial amount. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to determine that figure, because Berman passes corporate donations through his for-profit PR firm, which — unlike HSUS — does not make its financial statements available for public inspection.
We presented the following table in our previous article on CEO compensation.
| CEO Compensation |
| American Meat Institute | $738,987.00 |
| American Kennel Club | $737,067.00 |
| National Milk Producers Federation | $647,632.00 |
| ASPCA | $516,710.00 |
| American Red Cross | $455,690.00 |
| American Farm Bureau Federation | $420,415.00 |
| HSUS | $252,540.00 |
As you can see, Wayne Pacelle makes a fraction of what many national nonprofit CEOs are paid. But to really put things in perspective, consider what CEOs make at for-profit companies:
| CEO Compensation |
| Merrill Lynch | $83,785,021.00 |
| American Express | $50,126,585.00 |
| Walt Disney | $27,665,413.00 |
| Coca-Cola | $21,648,740.00 |
| Tyson Foods | $15,302,009.00 |
| ConAgra Foods | $13,452,747.00 |
Now consider that HSUS is the world’s largest animal charity, running campaigns in all 50 states. Their operations handle rescue, veterinary care, sheltering, investigation, litigation, legislation, education, outreach, and more. And the success of those operations rest squarely on Wayne Pacelle’s shoulders.
The latest edition of the Charity Navigator CEO Compensation Study sums it up beautifully.
We recognize that many donors will be hesitant to agree that the CEO of their favorite charity deserves a six figure salary. To the skeptics, we ask that you keep in mind that most of the charities included in this study are multi-million dollar operations. Leading one of them requires an individual that possesses both an understanding of the issues that are unique to the charity’s mission as well as extensive management and fundraising expertise. Even so, charities tend to pay less than private sector firms for similar competencies. For example, the charities in our study pay a median total compensation of roughly $150,000, compared to median salaries at S&P 500 companies of $1 million, excluding bonus packages and stock options that drive the median compensation up to $6.6 million.
Compared to nonprofits of a similar size and scope, Wayne Pacelle is paid peanuts. Compared to corporations in the private sector, his salary is nonexistent. The claim that his salary is “bloated” and “lavish” is an unsupportable interpretation of these facts.
For more information:
HSUS Financial Statements
NY Times: Nonprofit Advocate Carves Out a For-Profit Niche
Charity Navigator 2010 CEO Compensation Study
Update: January 20, 2011
Reader DWhite pointed out that the organizations selected for our comparison are not all 501(c)(3) nonprofits. While we have doubts that the differences between a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit and a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization are significant enough to invalidate the comparison, we’re willing to re-examine the numbers.
Further, DWhite questions whether HSUS paying 26 employees more than $100k is excessive.
For the new comparison, we’ll compare the HSUS against the American Kennel Club, the March of Dimes, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the American Cancer Society. All of these are large-scale, national 501(c)(3) nonprofits with annual revenue between $40,000,000 and $350,000,000.
And in addition to CEO compensation, we’ll look at the number of employees paid in excess of $100,000 per year.
| CEO Compensation * |
| American Cancer Society | $852,879.00 |
| American Kennel Club | $737,067.00 |
| March of Dimes | $627,104.00 |
| Susan G. Komen | $558,607.00 |
| Humane Society of the US | $268,386.00 |
| Mothers Against Drunk Driving | $256,380.00 |
* includes compensation from related organizations
| Total Employees | Paid More Than $100K |
| Susan G. Komen | 289 | 37 (12.8%) |
| American Cancer Society | 2,199 | 222 (10.1%) |
| American Kennel Club | 532 | 31 (5.8%) |
| March of Dimes | 2,058 | 102 (4.9%) |
| Humane Society of the US | 629 | 29 (4.6%) |
| Mothers Against Drunk Driving | 591 | 6 (1.0%) |
While there is no charity that’s a perfect analog to the HSUS, these examples do provide a representative sample of national, large-scale, 501(c)(3) nonprofits. As compared to similar organizations, HSUS compensation is not only reasonable, its compensation is well under that of many leading U.S. charities.
