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[RC] CEI EnviroWire--Green Charities - Di



When dealing with access issues to our public lands it is difficult at

times to

understand the extreme environmental organizations power in Washington

D.C.

After reading the article attached its easy to see why they have such an

impact.

They have the money, staff, time and presence to make their case.
The American Horse Council has two full time employees working to keep

our

presence

known on the Hill. We are aligned with other recreation organizations

and

together

we do make our case.  While we have made a lot of progress in D.C. in

the

past 4 years

there is a long, long way to go.
For us, the next big issue is weed free hay, and of course who will have

to use the hay.

We will be working to establish research on the matter of horses and the

spread of

noxious weed.  Do we or don't we?  Without the science the weed free hay

issue

is just another bureaucratic way of limiting our access.  Some folks

will

just walk away from

our sport or trail riding or find other places to ride that will not

require weed free hay.


Jerry Fruth
Chairman  AERC Trails Committee

Subject: Green in more ways than one: CEI EnviroWire--Green Charities



      C|E|I

     competitive enterprise institute



National Review Online


September 28, 2004



The IRS has announced that it will investigate the

executive-compensation

packages paid at 2,000 nonprofit organizations and charities.  It could do
worse than turning its spotlight on the nation's foremost environmental
charities.  According to a recent report from Public Interest Watch, some

of

these organizations pay their top executives handsome salaries that bear
comparison to packages in the private sector, where considerably more risk
is assumed.  Yet not all green charities are the same.  The top charities
could learn from others in their movement.




The Public Interest Watch report, "Executives at Environmental Charities

Go (For The) Green," carefully analyzes the earnings of top executives at
four major environmental organizations-the Natural Resources Defense

Council

(NRDC), Environmental Defense, Inc., Greenpeace Fund, Inc., and the Sierra
Club Foundation.  The data are culled from the most recent IRS Forms 990
available (2001 or 2002), and are a matter of public record (see:
www.guidestar.org for online versions).




According to the report, NRDC employs nine people who each earn over

$150,000 each year, including President John Adams, who was paid a

whopping

$368,342 in 2001.  These salaries include deferred contributions to
employee-retirement funds, but even without these, eight of the nine still
grossed salaries of over $140,000.  Together, these nine employees were

paid

a grand total of $1,753,849 in 2001.




Yet even this figure is dwarfed by the huge amount paid to its principal

employees by Environmental Defense, Inc., whose top 13 employees received
$2,120,980 in the same year. President Fred Krupp was compensated to the
tune of $327,414, while Senior Vice President Diana Josephson and Vice
President Marcia Aronoff each grossed over $200,000.




To put this into perspective, consider that Environmental Defense

received

just over $25,000,000 in individual memberships and contributions in 2002,
according to its own annual report.  So 8.5 cents of every dollar donated
goes to the bank accounts of just these 13 people.  Think about it like
this: Las Vegas casinos will bank a "house take" of 9 percent from some
rolls on a craps table.




Both NRDC and Environmental Defense are charitable organizations with

certain restrictions, organized under section 501(c)3 of the
internal-revenue code.  Public Interest Watch also looked at the finances

of

the Sierra Club Foundation, the Sierra Club's 501(c)3 affiliate.  Its top
five employees earned only $411,670 between them in 2002, with the

executive

director, John DeCock, earning just under $140,000.  As Public Interest
Watch says, these compensation packages do not appear to be unreasonable.




Nor is the Sierra Club Foundation unusual.  According to its Form 990,

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an organization whose aims

and

tactics many Americans find objectionable, is at least reasonable in its
payment structure.  The top five executives there earned only $294,234 in
2001 with the president, Ingrid Newkirk, seemingly leading by example with

a

gross salary of just over $30,000.




Public Interest Watch also investigated the payments made by Greenpeace

Fund, Inc., whose exact status it has questioned in previous reports.

This

organization, a 501(c)3, exists solely to pass funds along to other
Greenpeace organizations, as Public Interest Watch found when it
investigated its affairs for 2000. The watchdog concluded that Greenpeace
Fund, Inc. was "a shell corporation established for the purpose of

enabling

tax-deductible contributions from big donors and from foundations to flow
illegally to Greenpeace, Inc. and Greenpeace International."  This "shell
corporation" paid nine employees $418,022 in 2001, more than the Sierra

Club

Foundation did to its top officers.  Moreover, as Public Interest Watch
points out, some of these employees "received additional compensation from
Greenpeace itself (Greenpeace, Inc.)."




The whole compensation issue belies the aggressive "grassroots"

marketing

campaigns that these groups use to drag in the greenbacks.  Greenpeace
volunteers harass people on street corners with the words, "Have you got a
minute for Greenpeace?" which eventually morphs into requests for money.
Environmental Defense offers supporters t-shirts if they pass on the

e-mail

addresses of other likely donors.




As Public Interest Watch Executive Director Lewis Fein commented, "These

groups literally beg for donations, giving the impression that they cannot
accomplish their mission unless the average citizen pitches in.  At the

same

time they are quietly paying their executives huge six-figure salaries."




As the figures above make clear, not all environmentalist organizations

play this game.  Those who do, however, deserve much closer scrutiny.  The
IRS would be right to investigate.  Of course, such high salaries can buy
high-priced lawyers.






To schedule media interviews contact Jody Clarke by email or (202)

331-2252




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