According to the Surfing Madonna Oceans Project most recent federal tax filing, nearly one-third of the charity’s proceeds in 2018 were paid to board Chairman Robert Nichols and his wife, Megan McCarthy, who serves as the board secretary.
The tax-exempt organization reported income of $676,986 in 2018 , a decline of more than $77,000 from what it collected in 2017.
Meanwhile, Nichols’ salary climbed by more than $27,000, to a total of $112,249, a 31 percent raise. McCarthy, a friend and coworker who married Nichols in 2017, in 2018 received a 34 percent pay raise for a salary of $97,700.
Combined, the husband-and-wife nonprofit leaders took home 31 percent of the charity’s revenue for the year.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Surfing Madonna charity criticized for executive pay
U-T Watchdog:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yeah, pay them less. Then when they leave for greener pastures they can bring in some fresh out of college kid to screw up everything they built. They do good work and deserve to be compensated. Even their combined income isn’t enough to buy a house in Encinitas. They still make less than the city staff who do less. Face the facts, 100k ain’t all that much around here. The UT writer is just salty because he works for peanuts at the failing UT while other people are succeeding and get paid for it.
ReplyDeleteGiven this report, I'd surmise donations will plummet. It seems clear that this charity is for Nichols and McCarthy's welfare. They should have advised Duncan Hunter how to fleece the system legally.
ReplyDeleteI read the whole report, not just what was posted, and took away that there is nothing nefarious going on. That’s what the experts interviewed in the article said at least.
DeleteCharities are one of the greatest scams in America (besides phony religious come-ons). It is technically legal to charge whatever they want for management, but is contrary to the concept that the proceeds are mainly directed to a "cause". Maybe prospective donors should be provided the financial ledgers of any organization that they intend to donate to. If donors are satisfied that most of their money goes to salaries, so be it.
Delete12:16
DeleteNon-profits must disclose and account for every cent spent, it’s the law and public record.
12;16
DeleteYou actually think $112k.yr is a lot of money? Sucks to be you.
12:40 PM All in the context , you arrogant moron. When it is 30% of their overall take, it is alot. I suppose it is chump change to you being the same.
Delete30% of 0 is zero numbskull.
Delete10:54 PM Remedial math might enlighten that encumbered block on your shoulders.
DeleteHere we go with non profit again. When you pocket money, you profit, period. Non profits should post a carnival barker on all ads yelling for people to come under the big top and get scamed.
ReplyDeleteJust like that scam delight of the Alfa Project in San Diego. These people don't work for free and when will you saps get wise, that right, wise to the grift.
Like way over paying for your kid to go to college, another scam.
You have never run a a business let alone a non-profit have you? There are fixed costs, employees/labor are fuxkijg expensive, insurance is another biggie. Are you saying these non-profits should be for profit? Think about what you are saying, like actually think a couple levels deeper. Can’t do it can you? It’s because you are an idiot.
DeleteBob and Mark, the original Surfing Madonna glass artist, have been exemplary in their giving back and paying it forward to benefit those most in need.
ReplyDeleteThey deserve some compensation for all they have supported.
How much specifically, I suppose, could be debatable. Considering all their foundation has accomplished in the last few years, they are surely worth a modicum of payback.
We are fortunate to have their efforts dedicated to helping those who, there but for fortune go us all, stepping up, when there were no other options.
The overhead is always going to be high on a percentage of gross basis with a small local charity. No economies of scale. Their salaries don’t sound lavish to me. But I’m concerned that their donations decreased in an economy that is doing pretty well. They need to grow faster than costs to bring their overhead ratio down over time.
ReplyDeleteIt'll fold unless they come up with a new stik.
DeleteHow many events a year do they do for their salaries? If they are making six figures for the single event, that seems excessive.
ReplyDeleteThey do 2 events per year. Both of them are large events with over 10,000 participants per year.
DeleteI would like to see a breakdown of how many hours it takes to organize these events. If they are getting paid $500 per hour for their work, that is excessive.
Delete9:53, unless you are a donor, why do you care?
DeleteMaybe we should all publicly weigh in on your income.
Probably thousands of hours. I've volunteered and ran over two dozen races, including theirs. It's a year round full time job. A lot of these events have a team of at least 5-10 managers or more. If you've ever run a race, you'd see how much goes into it. Its a massive production. Not only do they organize and manage the events, but also all the nonprofit programs. Look at their website.
DeleteOne point that is overlooked. Surfing Madonna doesn't solicit donations from the public. 99% of their raised funds aren't tax deductible because people are receiving a product/service. The IRS states that you cannot receive a product or service with your donation. They use the proceeds from their marathons to fund their in-house programs or they give it to specific programs of other Encinitas organizations. To date according to their website, they've given nearly $600,000 back to the community. Source: https://surfingmadonna.org/where-the-money-goes/ . If you don't like their income, just don't participate in their events. 100% of the donations they receive from private donors are given back and quite a bit more. For example according to their 990 tax returns they generate about $650,000-750K in race proceeds. Of that revenue a very small portion comes from private donors. According to their tax returns they donate around $100,000 per year on average, that's a lot more than they receive in donations. This means they are donating far in excess of the money that is donated to the organization. Remember, race participants can't write off their entry fees as a donation because they are receiving a service according to the IRS. The amount of work that goes into putting on those events and the programming that the organization does has got to be VERY TIME consuming for their executives. Finally, they aren't getting paid to be board members. They are getting paid to be event directors, executive directors, and program directors. If you compare any other organization 990 tax returns you'll quickly see that most organizations pay their employees a much higher total percentage than 30% of their revenue. I will continue to support the Surfing Madonna and all they do for our community.
ReplyDeleteWell said. Event production is very time consuming. There is a whole team that does the rock and roll marathon that works year round and each member of that team makes close to the figures. Hell, Taco Bell is now giving their managers 100k.year. If 100k/year offends someone, that someone is probably doing a much easier job, not saving much, and is just projecting their own failures.
DeleteSo, a tax exempt charity (as stated in the Op) isn't the same as a non profit?
DeleteClarification please as I have no idea. I'm serious, I have no idea how this stuff works.
Non-profits are tax exempt on many but not all levels. The Surfing Madonna actually donates a lot more money than they have to. Technically they don't have to donate any money. For example, take a look at some of our local non-profits or any of them, the E101, C101, L101, Solana Center, Encinitas Chamber, YMCA, Leichtag, or any number of organizations 990's and you'd be shocked at how very little they donate, most donate $0 according to their 990 tax returns on Guidestar.org. When you consider how much money the Surfing Madonna donates back to the community, roughly $600,000 since 2013 (first 990) they are extremely generous with their donations. It appears that after the overhead from their events they determine how much they can donate and how much they can put in their organizations bank to perpetuate their annual programming. Furthermore and I find this interesting....I've done some research and found that the percentage of compensation to the amount of revenue they get paid is very low in comparison to the percentage that most organizations pay their employees (E101, Solana Center, Leichtag, Encinitas Chamber, etc). It's pretty evident that there's no story here. This Jeff McDonald character was obviously writing a hit piece and my intuition tells me it was a political favor for someone, probably local. Think about it, why would Jeff McDonald a well know reporter who writes major local and national stories about huge ticket items on the State level decide to pick on a local organization and one that isn't breaking any IRS codes or best practices. Even the experts in the article stated they did nothing nefarious. There is nothing criminal with having a husband/wife team on a board. There's nothing criminal with the salary they are receiving, someone mentioned that fast food restaurants pay some of their managers $100,000. These people have not only built two of San Diego largest running events, but they spend the whole year organizing them all while managing their programs, sponsorships and acting as executive directors. In short the Surfing Madonna has a very busy staff and they should get paid accordingly. For full disclosure, I'm one of their volunteers at their fully funded and free Surfing Madonna surf camps for special needs youth, so I may be a bit biased ;)
DeleteI see this "roughly $600,000 donated since 2013." But how much has been donated in the last, say, 3 years? If they donating less than $100K per year and paying themselves $200K per year, that's not cool at all IMHO.
DeleteThis is just another example of the blatant and flagrant corruption of the Catholic church and their members.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Whereas the right to practice religion is a given freedom, this choice should not come with special inclusions or treatment from our government. Remove Tax-Exempt Status for Religious Institutions!
DeleteYeah, and the Catholics have horns on their heads, too.
ReplyDeleteI told you this was a scam from the very beginning. But no one wanted to listen. Hell, it's not even good art.
ReplyDeleteOh, please.
DeleteIn other news the City of Encinitas Environmental Commission has finally drafted a'DET' (dog excrement tax) modeled after others created in Portland, San Francisco, Marin and Santa Monica. The argument is that the dog excrement should be treated just like human excrement and deposited in a sewer system and not in our municipal trash system (i.e. a landfill/groundwater). The draft isn't exclusive to dog feces but also covers dog urine with a proposed fee paid for per dog owned. A collar tag is proposed to identify those that will have paid what is essentially a 'dog tax.'
ReplyDeleteIs this more dry wit??? Wouldn't this apply to bums as well?
Delete