Perhaps there is a transcript or an account of the bod meeting available where this was discussed?
We don't record the board meetings or hire a court reporter so there is no word-for-word transcript. Pat takes notes from which we produce the Minutes. I've already posted the Minutes but I suspect they're not specific enough to satisfy The Inquisition. There is no requirement that we produce Pat's notes but in this case I am happy to publish an excerpt and [elaborate].
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Executive compensation. Start with question Tom raised.
[Tom King received an email from someone who wanted to remain anonymous. He honored their request so I don't know who wrote the following:
" (The Guidestar Compensation Report) lists the percentiles and averages for salaries of CEOs of nonprofits with budgets between $250,000 and $500,000.
I consider TIGHAR, based on its contributions and income from its most recent tax form, to be within this bracket. The 90th percentile (90 percent make less than this) compensation amount for CEO is $103,794 per year. The average compensation is $64,317. Ric's salary as reported in the 2013 tax statement was $185,623."]
TIGHAR’s average over the past six years is $890K gross so TIGHAR is not in the between $250,000 and $500,000 category.
The second error is that Ric is far more than a CEO.
Lee: How many of the people in Guidestar lists are compensated at zero? [Lots of small nonprofits have part-time executive who have day jobs.]
Ric: We looked into what executives in comparable organizations are paid. Could only find one, EAA. Much larger but they do many of same kinds of things - service members, produce publications, perform educational services, administer large projects, conduct fundraising, interact with government, etc.
[According to their 2013 990, EAA executives were paid as follows. The second number in each case is "supplemental income" from other sources.
Founder $68,563 + $670 = $69,233
[Paul Poberezny, who died mid-year. The previous year he was paid $107,110]
Executive VP $257,569 + $48,138 = $305,707
Development VP $183,333 + $42,698 = $226,022
Advocacy & Gov’t Relations $159,680 + $43,001 = $202,681
Government Relations VP $155, 313 + $21,208 = $176,521
Communities & Member Prog VP $195,669 + $33,141 = $228,810
AirVenture F&A VP $178,310 + $32,711 = $211,021
Human Resources VP $164,212 + $27,464 = $191,676
Vice President, Marketing $148,902 + $26,196 = $175,098
Attorney $141,842 + $27,718 = $169,560
Director of Business Relations $105,747 + $24,928 = $130,675
Controller $104,181 + $29,680 = $133,861
At TIGHAR the Executive Committee (Ric and Pat) perform most of those functions. TIGHAR has a unique situation in that the Executive Committee is a married couple so, for tax purposes, they show all of the compensation going to Ric. Ric is the most visible member of the management team so it's easy to miss that the compensation figure shown in the 990 actually represents two highly educated, dedicated, and talented people working seven days a week. For fiscal year 2013 that figure was $183,685. If we apply gender equality that's $91,842 each, considerably less than the compensation received for any of the department heads at EAA. TIGHAR is getting a bargain.]
Bill: The publicly known data don’t elucidate that.
Ric: But how do we get that info out?
Skeet: Maybe we need something on website that explains this sort of thing: Where does the contribution dollar go?
Dawn: yes.
Ric: Also need to talk about TIGHAR headquarters: TIGHAR center for aviation historical studies.
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Another common misconception is that Ric and Pat own the 11 acre farm that serves as TIGHAR HQ. Two years ago we sold the split-level house in Delaware from which we had run TIGHAR for 21 years because the organization had outgrown that property. We worked out an arrangement with a TIGHAR member who agreed to purchase a suitable property and lease it to us for five years after which we or TIGHAR would purchase it from him. The move lowered TIGHAR overhead and significantly improved efficiency. We used the proceeds from the sale of our house to pay off old debt. We now do not own property nor do we have savings or a retirement account. Our commitment to TIGHAR is absolute.
Oh yes, and the horses. Pat and I are both life long horse lovers. We rescued my 27 year-old Thoroughbred in 1993. Anyone who knows me has heard way too many stories about the smartest horse on the planet. We also have a 7 year-old Morgan. Our horses are not race horses or show horses. Having them here on the farm rather than at some remote location is more economical and gives us more time we can spend doing our job serving TIGHAR.