More About Money (adoption)?

Gaia Raain II

Yes, I am dismayed at ALL those salaries, AND the salaries of those whose job is to provide children to adults who want them. That would be called greed.

Joy

Those salaries do seem a little excessive for companies that are funded by donations.

Randy B

Given the size of some of these agencies it doesn't surprise me that it costs so much to get good people to run them. If you want top execs you gotta be willing to pay for them.

While many of them do operate on donations they also receive funds in other ways too such as through provisions in people wills, investments they have made over time as part of their business plan and government grants. Just looking at the Save the Children Canada website shows that they take direct donations from many sources but they also receive funding from the Canadian Government, including the Canadian International Development Agency, (CIDA), provincial governments, other members of the International Save the Children Alliance, foundations, corporations and from private donations. They also clearly state that the spend 80% of their funding on their programs with 20% on administration costs.

Even "non profit" agencies don't make just enough money to cover their expenses. If they did, and they had even one more child on their rolls they wouldn't be able to operate because they wouldn't have the money for it. They must be able to make enough money to pay their staff costs, their basic expenses, cover future items in their business plans, life cycle their office equipment and plan for problems or things that crop up unexpectedly.

Are they making too much? Nobody can say without a review of their financial records. If they are registered non-profits then the Govt is supposed to be doing that when tax time rolls around. If they are not registered as non-profits then they are free to run their businesses as they wish. And we are free to either do business with them or not.

Heather B

The first three salaries quoted look excessive, yes.

I would disagree that the two are comparable though because in no way, shape or form are adoption agencies child welfare advocates! they run businesses trading in children, which is way creepy

red elephants

I have no problem with non profits paying their employees well.

It can be extremely hard work and just because it is a charity does not mean that people don't have living expenses and should not be compensated for their labor. Non profits are businesses whether people want to acknowledge it or not.

The charities you listed I don't believe are on the same scale as one another but I could be wrong. Save the Children, UNICEF and World Vision are all huge companies. I've never heard of Children, Incorporated. Do they bring in the same amount of money? A larger company is going to take more skill and experience to run, will be a harder more involved job and they should be payed accordingly.

I think as long as administrative costs are under 15-20% of the budget then it doesn't bother me what the individuals make. Its going to vary from company to company.

maybe I shouldn't of answered since I don't have a problem with agencies getting paid either really. i fully expect to get paid by the non profit i run one day also. won't be nearly as much since its a small group but still.

IDK!!

i am... that's why i give to my church , who directly helps our community and supports missionaries who then help their communities

the part of adoption fees i have the biggest problem with is the placement fee... its no more than a finders fee. i understand needing to charge for cpr classes and homestudies. i question $15 per page to fax papers, or $600 for a 2 hour "birthparent" assesent.

niels

Last year I did a bit of research on the salaries of top executives of adoption agencies and produced quite a lengthy list of people making more than $100,000.

Here are the top 7 incomes as I could find them at the time. The list I created was certainly not complete or conclusive and some high paying positions may easily have skipped my attention. All information is retrieved from IRS-990 forms.

The Children's Aid Society, CEO: $387,683
Frank Foundation Child Assistance International INC,President: $357,787
The Children's Aid Society, Executive Director: $305,508
Gladney Center, President: $248,312
Buckner International, VP-COO: $243,443
Adoptions from the Heart, Executive Director: $239,581
Buckner International, President: $233,256

Now to your question. I see relatively little difference between the salaries made by top executives of Unicef, World Vision and Save the Children on the one hand and The Children's Aid Society and Frank Foundation on the other hand.

The big difference and it has been stated before is that the first group makes money through donation, while the other group makes money through adoption.

I'd rather see people being fooled into giving donations that end up being used for executive perks than children being placed out to contribute to the salary of a CEO.

sunny

I think they are overpaid.

However, you're comparing apples to oranges.

The charities you mention first are global organizations. The latter are smaller, American agencies.

You'd be hard pressed to find a CEO to run say, UNICEF for under 400K, their just aren't that many charitable people who will do it.

Gotta love the name of that one agency you mention, Children, Inc., doesn't get more blatant than that.

SJM

Does UNICEF sell babies to pay their execs? If so, I have a problem with it. If they're operating from donations, then I guess I don't care.

Adalwolf

Sounds like good money , grats to the CEOS in being successful in life.

Independ"ant"

Apples and oranges........but nice try.

Lets not forget to mention worldwide corporations/wealthy individuals endowments that specifically donate to pay the wages of employees at Unicef. Their pay is not self regulated nor does it increases/decrease with the sale of children but the how well the organization is run and aids those that are in need that are ignored by their own govt and agency's out to take advantage/exploit them. Many of the top executives at Unicef can justify their pay by the millions of dollars their personal influence and extensive personal network brings into the organization alone.

As far as Save the Children/World Vision and similar christian based organizations are concerned.....the only problem that I have with them is the way the go about fund-raising. Its not exactly honest. The little picture of the child they send to individuals isn't who they are sponsoring. The money they send goes to projects within the community and doesn't directly go to the child. That's the way it should be...if you think about it.....but its not exactly honest to individuals donating.

Comparing an organization that is helping themselves to children vs those that are trying to help the family unit is quite silly.

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