[Foundation-l] Corporate Social Responsibility

Sat Nov 20 12:16:36 UTC 2010

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> On 19/11/2010 21:31, Risker wrote:
>> The last one is for the fiscal year ending June 2009, and was filed on
>> 29
>> April 2010. Link:
>> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/5/54/WMF_2008_2009_Form_990.pdf
>>
>> The section on salaries begins on Page 7.
>
> Thank you for the links. I'm consulting the 990 form for 2008-2009 right
> now [1]. Sadly, I already have questions:
>
> Item 15 of page 1 says:
> Salaries, other compensation, employee benefits:
> Current year (2008-2009): 2,073,313 dollars.
> (By the way, the annual report states another number: 2,257,621$. Why?)
> With 26 employees declared at that time, it gives a mean salary of 6645$
> a month for each employee. Isn't it morally a little high for a
> non-profit organization and unfair towards the current 80 000 volunteers?
>
> Also, at page 7, three major compensations are described:
> Sue Gardner was compensated 175050$ (equivalent to a monthly 14587$
> income)
> Veronique Kessler was compensated 121859$ (equivalent to a monthly
> 10155$ income)
> Mike Godwin was compensated 128139$ (equivalent to a monthly 10678$
> income).
>
> I don't live in the USA, but I'm surprised about these numbers. Frank
> Bauer estimates that they "don't have the money to begin to pay for such
> services at market rate".
>
> The fact that this is legal or traditional is beside my point.
> Though I'm willing to listen and understand the Foundation's way of
> thinking, I'd like to express that for the cultural and ethical grounds
> from where I come, it is unacceptable for someone to profit from
> volunteers' efforts and from donations aimed at a cause. I'm not saying
> this is the case, but I would gladly receive insightful answers because
> I'm currently at loss about what to think of the Foundation.

Top law school graduates in the United States are offered salaries in
that range for their first job. It is a modest salary for highly
experienced counsel as are the other salaries disclosed.

Fred Bauder