Another Day, Another United Way Cookie Jar

Earlier this week the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (www.ajc.com) reported that Mark O'Connell, the former CEO of United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, received nearly $1.6 million in cash as a pension supplement.  There followed the usual and customary howls of outrage.

I say, give Mr. O'Connell a break.  If his corporate masters on the United Way board thought he was worth it, who are we to second-guess them?

Just one problem:  Nobody told the board.  They did not vote on this increase.  According to AJC's story, although leaders of the compensation committee claimed they informed the board, board members AJC contacted said they didn't know O'Connell was on track to receive this supplement.

Sound familiar?

I wonder how many other UW execs out there have similar retirement packages their boards don't know about.

Defenders of the payout said they did it so as to not lose a valuable chief executive.  Huh?  According to its most recently available IRS 990 return, for the year ending June 30, 2005, United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta operated at en effective overhead rate of 27.6 percent.  That is to say, they paid out to charities only 72.4 percent of what they took in.  That's poor management, even by United Way standards.

Comments

[Paul Krizek]

The United Way execs across the nation are always among the highest paid in the philanthropic sector (check out the recent Chronicle of Philanthropy), and they don't even have any programs to run!

[DC]

They HAVE to compensate O'Connell and the others in this way. Remember, many recent surveys have shown that there is no one else in the sector with savvy or experience enough to replace productive icons like this. What was his name again?