当年在一家规模很大的公司任职,人事处的同事们号召每位职工给慈善机构United Way捐款。想想自己两手空空来美国才几年,不仅一分钱没有出,还每个月拿着可观的奖学金,一帆风顺地很快就拿了博士学位,而且也混出了个人模狗样的中产阶级。 再看看一些年轻的土生土长的同事们,还要为上学所欠还贷,心情大好,一片感恩,便慷慨地捐出了1%的工资。后来一个偶然的机会,从报纸上知道了,我捐那一点钱,还不够人家United Way CEO吃一顿饭呢。此后,我就逐渐地开始关注这些慈善机构了。当然,关注的结果,就是不再给他们捐款了。
以下举几个例子:
美国最大的慈善机构United Way 每年大概有40亿的净收入,全部收入来自自愿捐款,因此而无“原材料”成本。这家算是声誉很不错的一家慈善机构,号称86% 的收入用于扶贫。也就是说,14% 的捐款,用于机构运转,其中包括所有员工的工资。CEO 伽啦嘎(Gallagher)多年以来年薪都在100万美元左右。此外还有年终奖金和很多可以报销的开支。据说这两年,迫于舆论,自己将年薪降到37.5万美元。当然,奖金和其他可以报销的开支大家不得而知道。
回复 'jelous' 的评论 : Non-for-profit organizations are required to have a governing board. The board appoints CEO, and the CEO organizes the management team. The governing board members (3-10 people) are recommended by other board members. Initially, the board may be just a group of friends, or relatives who decide to start such an organization. Board members are typically not employees, but they normally have other jobs - likely executives of other organizations. CEO can be other organizations board members as well. So, the mechanism of interest exchange is possible. Board members may or may not get paid by the organization depends on the financial situation of an organization. Large non-for-profit organization board members typically receive payments. Amounts are decided by board and CEO.