The Liestrong(TM) Temple of Awareness

[andy1234]

Genuine answer - people should be compensated appropriatley, and work in a safe and healthy environment.

But when you look at the charity (which keeps being referred to a for-profit entity called Livestrong) expences it is easy to see that it is not be spent appropriatley.

$5 million of the $35 million raised goes on wages - here are some of the roles and renumeration of its top executives...... for a charity!

Doug E. Ulman - President - $285,000
Betty S Otter-Nickerson - COO - $213,122
Philippe G. Hills - EVP Development - $293,200
Greg D.Lee - CFO - $162,942.
Morgan L. Binswanger - Chief of Staff - 191,935
John A. Miller - EVP Mission - $145,396
Melissa Douthit - EVP Advocacy & Engageme $124,010
Mona Patel - EVP People & Organisation - $119,193
Katherine A. McLane - Highly Compensated Employee- $114,060
Ronald A. Kolenic - Highly Compensated Employee - $109,212

Lets, for arguments sake, say that Doug E Ulman is fantastic at his job.
His abilities should return his salary back to the organisation many times over. Pay someone half of that, to a candidate who has half his ability and it suddenly seems like a poor choice.

If you want to staff a multi million dollar organisation with people capable of running such an organisation, you probably have to pay the market rate.
300k for such a role is par for the course.

Disclaimer - Doug E Ulman is not related to me and may well be a sh*tkicker.

 

[Bag_O_Wallet]

Oh my mistake. You sound so well informed. I would have thought you were talking about specific instances in your career where you made million dollar decisions based on interior decorating.

If I walked into my bank, and it looked like the interior of LAF, I'd probably switch banks. I don't want to be dazzled by decor. I want to be impressed by what they do with my money. The same applies to charitable organizations.

 

[BroDeal]

Oh my mistake. You sound so well informed. I would have thought you were talking about specific instances in your career where you made million dollar decisions based on interior decorating.

The weakness of his argument is that if I was giving a mil to a charity then I would feel more comfortable if the offices were modest than if it was obvious that they had splashed a lot of money around. And if the charity has their own private jet, fugetaboutit.

 

[andy1234]

If I walked into my bank, and it looked like the interior of LAF, I'd probably switch banks. I don't want to be dazzled by decor. I want to be impressed by what they do with my money. The same applies to charitable organizations.

Its QUITE a smart office, not the Waldorf Astoria.
You guys need to get out more.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Lets, for arguments sake, say that Doug E Ulman is fantastic at his job.
His abilities should return his salary back to the organisation many times over. Pay someone half of that, to a candidate who has half his ability and it suddenly seems like a poor choice.

If you want to staff a multi million dollar organisation with people capable of running such an organisation, you probably have to pay the market rate.
300k for such a role is par for the course.

Disclaimer - Doug E Ulman is not related to me and may well be a sh*tkicker.

I have no problem with Ulman being paid the rate as President.

Its interesting that you didn't mention any of the other 9 employees, all who earn over $100,000 - with such lofty titles as Chief of Staff and People & Organisation....... for a charity with less than 100 employees based in one city.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Its QUITE a smart office, not the Waldorf Astoria.
You guys need to get out more.

Shouldn't the question be less how does it compare to a fancy Hotel or a Financial institution and more how does it compare to the offices of say American Cancer Society or the Red Cross?

 

[andy1234]

I have no problem with Ulman being paid the rate as President.

Its interesting that you didn't mention any of the other 9 employees, all who earn over $100,000 - with such lofty titles as Chief of Staff and People & Organisation....... for a charity with less than 100 employees based in one city.

Surely $100k isnt an unreasonable salary for a manager?

 

[Bag_O_Wallet]

Its QUITE a smart office, not the Waldorf Astoria.
You guys need to get out more.

The both of me???

It LOOKS like a WASTE of MONEY. Is it? I don't know for sure, but it sure LOOKS like it is.

 

[andy1234]

Shouldn't the question be less how does it compare to a fancy Hotel or a Financial institution and more how does it compare to the offices of say American Cancer Society or the Red Cross?

If we could find out how much the office actually cost then it would be easier to discuss.
For what its worth, Oxfam International have offices in London and New York. I would imagine that the cost of their buildings hold up pretty well.

 

[BotanyBay]

That top-ten earners list (taken from the 990 form) is almost the same total of salary figures I secured from my private college's 990 form in 1994. So being that this is 17 years later, and a tax exempt organization about the size of that small college I attended, I see nothing out of the ordinary on that.

However, that does not mean that my college was not involved in huge financial impropriety. Our leaders also had a massive problem in regards to their world travel in first-class style and many expenses that did nothing but to serve their own egos. Our leaders also had a knack for decorating their offices with Knoll furniture and putting multi-thousand dollar artwork on their walls.

 

[Bag_O_Wallet]

Shouldn't the question be less how does it compare to a fancy Hotel or a Financial institution and more how does it compare to the offices of say American Cancer Society or the Red Cross?

As stated earlier, I worked at the Headquarters for St John Ambulance in Canada. When I worked there, the HQ's were in a mansion. The optics of that were an on-going concern to staff.

They have since moved to an office tower in a business park. It's nothing fancy, but that's okay. I doubt anyone has decided against donating time and/or money because they're not in a mansion any more.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Surely $100k isnt an unreasonable salary for a manager?

If you think $100,000 is a reasonable salary then you need to reread the salaries (and duties).

Doug E. Ulman - President - $285,000
Betty S Otter-Nickerson - COO - $213,122
Philippe G. Hills - EVP Development - $293,200
Greg D.Lee - CFO - $162,942.
Morgan L. Binswanger - Chief of Staff - $191,935
John A. Miller - EVP Mission - $145,396
Melissa Douthit - EVP Advocacy & Engageme $124,010
Mona Patel - EVP People & Organisation - $119,193
Katherine A. McLane - Highly Compensated Employee- $114,060
Ronald A. Kolenic - Highly Compensated Employee - $109,212

 

[Race Radio]

Genuine answer - people should be compensated appropriatley, and work in a safe and healthy environment.

But when you look at the charity (which keeps being referred to a for-profit entity called Livestrong) expences it is easy to see that it is not be spent appropriatley.

$5 million of the $35 million raised goes on wages - here are some of the roles and renumeration of its top executives...... for a charity!

Doug E. Ulman - President - $285,000
Betty S Otter-Nickerson - COO - $213,122
Philippe G. Hills - EVP Development - $293,200
Greg D.Lee - CFO - $162,942.
Morgan L. Binswanger - Chief of Staff - 191,935
John A. Miller - EVP Mission - $145,396
Melissa Douthit - EVP Advocacy & Engageme $124,010
Mona Patel - EVP People & Organisation - $119,193
Katherine A. McLane - Highly Compensated Employee- $114,060
Ronald A. Kolenic - Highly Compensated Employee - $109,212

Which one of these guys is responsible for the advertising budget? Whoever it is they should be fired. $10,000,000 spent in the last few years and all it has done is drive traffic to the FOR PROFIT .com

 

[andy1234]

If you think $100,000 is a reasonable salary then you need to reread the salaries (and duties).

Doug E. Ulman - President - $285,000
Betty S Otter-Nickerson - COO - $213,122
Philippe G. Hills - EVP Development - $293,200
Greg D.Lee - CFO - $162,942.
Morgan L. Binswanger - Chief of Staff - $191,935
John A. Miller - EVP Mission - $145,396
Melissa Douthit - EVP Advocacy & Engageme $124,010
Mona Patel - EVP People & Organisation - $119,193
Katherine A. McLane - Highly Compensated Employee- $114,060
Ronald A. Kolenic - Highly Compensated Employee - $109,212

I dont know the quality of these guys or what their genuine roles are, but if they are the top 10 earners then its nothing unusual for an organistion of this size.

I dont understand why you are pointing out something very normal, when there are so many things in the organisation that are not.

The salaries, the office, nothing to see here.
The Jet, now that is probably another story.

 

[BotanyBay]

I dont understand why you are pointing out something very normal, when there are so many things in the organisation that are not.

My point too. There are bigger fish to fry in this organization. MUCH bigger. Not "people" fish, but "priorities" fish. And these fish stink, bad.

Your CEO, COO, CFO, Biz-Dev, CTO (that's 5 right there) are all going to cost you over 6-figures, no matter what. Anywhere, profit or non.

 

[MacRoadie]

Kinda funny that you can't even find a photo of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure offices.

As far as salaries go, the Komen board seems to be on par with LiveStrong (maybe even a little higher at CEO), but they also collected something like $160 million in their last audited financial year (2009) versus $41.7 million for LAF.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

I dont know the quality of these guys or what their genuine roles are, but if they are the top 10 earners then its nothing unusual for an organistion of this size.

I dont understand why you are pointing out something very normal, when there are so many things in the organisation that are not.

The salaries, the office, nothing to see here.
The Jet, now that is probably another story.

You keep saying things like "of this size" ...... the LAF have a turnover of just $35 million.

Not even considering what that money goes on - $4million on advertising, $2 million on travel etc

 

[AnythingButKestrel]

Surely $100k isnt an unreasonable salary for a manager?

The question was how to structure the compensation differently.

Looks like a simple case of all chiefs no Indians.

Back to the reason for the topic, I'm not so sure panic isn't setting in at sensei central. With LiveWrong.wtf?'s overhead, it won't take much of a PR hit to send the org into insolvency. Hence the flowery BS-fest to re-inspire the moonies yesterday.

 

[BotanyBay]

You shouldn't use the number of employees and donation revenue per employee as an adequate comparison (yet). I'm sure you could give the LAF 5 more years (in a different climate) and their respective ratios would be more even to the Komen foundation.

A 737 and an A-380 are vastly different aircraft in size and weight, but both need a significant amount of runway to get off the ground (not the same for each, but still a lot).

 

[MacRoadie]

You shouldn't use the number of employees and donation revenue per employee as an adequate comparison (yet). I'm sure you could give the LAF 5 more years (in a different climate) and their respective ratios would be more even to the Komen foundation.

A 737 and an A-380 are vastly different aircraft in size and weight, but both need a significant amount of runway to get off the ground (not the same for each, but still a lot).

True, but the Komen people sure seem to be getting an awful lot of bang for their buck with approximately equal executive compensation in a second-floor suite in a nondescript building in Dallas...

 

[Skandar Akbar]

If you think $100,000 is a reasonable salary then you need to reread the salaries (and duties).

Doug E. Ulman - President - $285,000
Betty S Otter-Nickerson - COO - $213,122
Philippe G. Hills - EVP Development - $293,200
Greg D.Lee - CFO - $162,942.
Morgan L. Binswanger - Chief of Staff - $191,935
John A. Miller - EVP Mission - $145,396
Melissa Douthit - EVP Advocacy & Engageme $124,010
Mona Patel - EVP People & Organisation - $119,193
Katherine A. McLane - Highly Compensated Employee- $114,060
Ronald A. Kolenic - Highly Compensated Employee - $109,212

Actually that is not very much money. Not sure how people can get by on that nowdays.

 

[thehog]

Thats a nice office!! Is this from Google or another big Internet company like Demand Media?

I watched the Liestrong State of the Union infomercial for about 15 minutes to see if they had any intention of providing well-deserved answers to where the money goes. For some reason, I threw up all over my computer and couldn't make it to the end. Fortunately, Liestrong's Facebook page provided a link that helps immensely.

An sample from the architectural spread of Liestrong HQ:

http://diariodesign.com/2011/02/fundacion-lance-armstrong-diseno-eficiente-y-arquitectura-con-causa/

The jet must get parked out back.