Top Charity pay justified?

[Anna B]

I like to give a certain amount to a few charities by standing order every month, but recently they have all been phoning me up to increase my contribution. Nothing wrong with that, they're finding it hard at the moment, but so am I. So following an interesting conversation with a friend, I decided to do as she sugested and look online to see what sort of salaries the top people in the charity were getting.

 

I'm not going to name names because I would hate to be responsible for them losing money (or at least, the people they help,) but I was shocked to find that nearly all the CEOs were on £100,000+ as were other top people. One well known charity CEO was on £160,000, and another had 8 people earning more than £100,000!

 

Now is it just me, or do you think this is excessive? I know a lot of civil servants earn more than this, but I think that's very wrong as well. It makes my salary look ridiculous.

 

I'm thinking of withdrawing my support and giving the money to local charities instead.

 

Do you think these salaries are justified?

[ricgem2002]

in a word no but some on here will be sticking up for them btw i wonder if they are paying the right amount of tax on their wages

[geared]

of course it's excessive, executive pay always is.

 

they will make the excuse that they have to pay that to 'attract talent' but it's a complete load of bull, as many 'top CEOs' have completely run huge companies into the ground.

[mc55]

I've heard that they justify high salaries on the basis that they need top class people who manage to keep the funding coming in. I give 1% of my annual salary to charity and it makes me very uncomfortable too so I try and avoid the national branches and have started to support the local charities where you can see how every penny impacts them.

[Mister M]

of course it's excessive, executive pay always is.

 

they will make the excuse that they have to pay that to 'attract talent' but it's a complete load of bull, as many 'top CEOs' have completely run huge companies into the ground.

 

I agree. And in the case of charities and public servants (such as Chief Executives of Councils, Health Trusts, and Colleges of Further Education) shouldn't the motivation to do such jobs be altruistic (e.g. helping the community), like it is for those working at the sharp end of public service?

[WeX]

I know the RSPCA has a huge portfolio of stocks and shares.

 

I will not give money to charities who try to mug me in the street or come knocking on my door of an evening. Neither will I give to any charity that tries to guilt me into contributing. Charity is mine to give, not to be negotiated out of me by one way or anther.

[ronthenekred]

If 60p of my £1.00 went to a CEO who turned the 40p into £6 then yes I wouldn't have a problem with that.

 

If the tea lady could do the same, I also wouldn't have a problem with that either.

[andygardener]

I give to local charities. The national charities are so busy competing with each other most of the money is wasted on chuggers, adverts and "top executives". International charities, we already are forced to pay for international charity by the ringfencing of overseas aid, so not going to rob local charities to pay for what I'm already forced to pay for.

[andyofborg]

Do you think these salaries are justified?

 

yes and no

 

no in the sense that very few of the large executive and senior people salaries can be justified.

 

yes in the sense that these are large charities which handle large amounts of money, have properties, assets and employees. the people at the top need to be capable of running an organisation of that size and to do that you need to pay something comparable to the private sector.

 

---------- Post added 12-12-2012 at 21:47 ----------

 

.... most of the money is wasted on chuggers, adverts and "top executives".

 

if they didn't feel that chuggers and adverts didn't raise more than they cost then i doubt they would use them.

[ECCOnoob]

Why do Doctors and Surgeons get their top salaries too? Maybe they should be doing for the good of the community - after all why shouldn't they feel compelled to help people?

 

What about top level social workers - they should feel obliged for the good of their service users to just take a token pay eh?

 

and so on.... and so on.... Lets all work for penuts for the good of society eh. We should all feel a sense of community spirit for whatever work we provide.

 

Well back on planet earth "sense of community spirit" does not pay the mortgage and gas bills.

 

They are paid what the job demands. Just becuase its a charity does not mean it takes any less running than any other national or multinational company. Lots of responsibility, lots of stress, lots of things to manage.

 

To be honest, whilst I am sure they look excessive to the lay person most Charity CEO salaries are absolutely nowhere near your average Chief Exec in private companies. Nor do they get the luxury of share options, golden investment deals, offshore payments or any other perks.