Charity Salaries |
American Charity Nothing
is so commonly believed among us than the opinion that we are indeed a
charitable people who live by the commandment to help the poor. The evidence is
that the Jewish community is indeed most charitable, in that we collect more
money per donor than any other ethnic group in this country. If
that is indeed the case, we need to explain how it is that in New York City one
third of all Jews live either below or near the poverty line as defined by the
Department of Health and Human Services. Surely, the money contributed to the
innumerable welfare organizations must have gone somewhere, as it evidently does
not go to those who need it the most. Therefore
we are advised to take a look at Charity Navigator, a web site which reveals the
salaries paid to executives of just about all social service organizations in
this country. According to that objective report, the CEO of the New York
Community Trust is paid $828,804 a year. Consider that the President of the
United States earns $400,000 to run the whole country. That, however, is
“chicken feed” when compared to the $3,151,000 paid to the CEO of the United
Jewish Appeal in New York. How many of the poor could eat how many meals if the
UJA boss was paid only $1 million and the other two million went to those who
have no food? Of course, there are such “poor” CEO’s as the Cleveland,
Ohio UJA executive who has to live on “only” $722,061, or the Chicago UJA
boss who gets $466,968. Remember that each of these greedy charity
administrators have associate executives, assistant executives, department
heads, etc. etc. etc. The truth it that if you give money to any of these
charity manipulators, those who are truly in need get nothing. Consider that the
CEO of the Red Cross “earns” $591,122 and a nursing home administrator makes
$1,680,000. That nursing home will not admit anyone unable to pay $180,000 a
year. So the next time you are asked to contribute to a “charity” go to
Charity Navigator and see if you are giving your money to a millionaire who has
more money than you will ever see in a lifetime. This
situation has two causes. One of these was the entrance of government into the
charity process. This began with the Roosevelt administration in the 1930’s.
Because of the Great Depression, Congress passed much legislation establishing
innumerable agencies with fancy names designed to help the unemployed. The first
was the Social Security Administration, followed by a host of other
bureaucracies over the years. As these agencies multiplied and served the old,
the sick, the blind, children, the unemployed, and the poor, private agencies
had money with which to pay salaries to professional social workers. These
professionals were graduates of universities, which began to offer the M.S.W.
degree in the late 1930’s. There was no B.A. degree in social work until the
end of the ‘80’s. While politicians, organized crime, religious groups, and private citizens helped the needy before government entered the arena, this support now fell away. Professional agencies hired graduate social workers and appointed “executive directors” and other sycophants. The Greek word “sycophant” means “fig shower.” It refers to the servants of wealthy people in ancient Greece who had a man hold a large fig leaf over the head of his employer so as to guard him from the heat of the sun. Later, this word came to mean any employee or other person who kowtows to wealthy women or men. As
professional social work developed, the executive directors recognized that they
could benefit greatly by bringing to the board of directors rich people who
would increase their salaries if properly praised and lauded. A reciprocal
relationship developed between rich trustees and “executives.” The CEO’s
flattered the rich board members by announcing the virtues of the trustee
publicly. Printed brochures, public speeches, dinners and other methods became
vehicles for the enhancement of the reputations of the Croesus at hand. The rich
were told that they were the very embodiment of kindness, achievement, wisdom
and philanthropy (lover of men). In return, the board members, impressed by the
praise they received, increased the salaries of the sycophants. The
income of social workers is poor. However, executives may well be paid $3.5
million, or at least $800,000. Evidently, every boss has several assistants who
earn less but nevertheless collect proportionate salaries. Surely, someone paid
several million a year would pay his immediate subordinate at least half of his
own income. So a $600,000 boss with two assistants would pay another $600,000 to
them at $300,000 each. These department heads etc. also have assistants who are
paid large sums. Indeed,
the average social worker who actually interacts with “clients” gets little
for his efforts. Furthermore, such social workers experience that helping the
poor is of no use to them. They recognize that political acumen pays well, and
so they too try to become an administrator and make money. The
outcome of all this is that those in need get nothing or next to nothing because
there is nothing left after all the “big shots” are paid. The
administrators of these bureaucracies never see a “client.” They spend all
their time rushing from meeting to meeting, “feathering their nest.” Therefore
it is important that those who wish to be of help by contributing to an
“agency” look up the salaries paid for
that agency on Charity Navigator. Meanwhile
it is best to help the needy by giving them a supply of food, clothing and money
directly into their hand.
Better yet, send a money order without your name; put a carton full of
food on their doorstep at night and leave no name; give money to a clergyman to
be passed on to a needy person who will never know where it came from. Go to a
food bank and deliver groceries. Do all of this and fulfill the commandment in
Isaiah 58:7 to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Shalom u’vracha. Dr. Gerhard Falk is the author of numerous publications, including The German Jews in America (2014). |