66% Of ASHA's 2009 Revenue Went To Salaries And Other Employee Payouts

According to ASHA's latest tax returns (note: ASHA doesn't file its 2010 returns until the fall of 2011), one out of every seven ASHA headquarter employees receives a salary of $100,000 or more.

And every one of ASHA's top eleven bosses received a significant raise in the last tax year (What recession? Did someone say there's a recession? Could someone pass the brie? Anyone going to Martha's Vineyard this summer?) This despite the fact that ASHA's program service revenues dropped from $41,705,953 to $40,642,318.
In 2008, 57% of ASHA's revenues went to salaries and other compensation.
In 2009, that figure jumped to a whopping 66%.
Think of that for a second: 66% of every dollar ASHA gets makes a non-stop flight into the pockets of its employees. According to ASHA's tax returns, ASHA's top $ earners put in a back-breaking and death-defying average workweek of 50 hours. The mind reels at the physical and mental endurance of ASHA's bosses.
What percentage of a business organization should go to payroll?

The gross percentage of payroll as compared to the gross revenue is the ratio that will begin to tell you if you are in trouble or on the right path. 30-38% is a great place to be in. I see many businesses that tip the scale at over 50% AND YES, THIS IS A BUSINESS ALWAYS IN TROUBLE. Second Wind Consultants

No-one wants to donate to a cause that squanders fifty percent of the raised funds to paid employees and other nefarious expenses. CEOs in non-profit organizations 

50%? ASHA is now spending 66% of its revenue on paid employees, an increase of 9% in one year! That's $27,074,062 for:

Compensation of current officers, directors, trustees, and key employees: $2,146,082

Other salaries and wages: $17,832,762

Pension plan contributions: $2,957,242

Other employee benefits: 2,703,443

Payroll taxes: $1,434,533

Total compensation, salaries, wages, and other benefits: $27,074,062 

ASHA Revenue for 2009: $40,642,318 (Source: ASHA form 990 Tax return.

If the present rate of increase continues, by the year 2016, 100% of ASHA's revenues will go to pay the salaries of ASHA headquarter employees. 

Note that ASHA is a non-profit, not a business. Its operating expenses should be no more than 25%. Most of ASHA's revenue is going to support the lifestyles of the one-percenters running it.

 If ASHA was a charity, it would be listed as one of the worst charities in the USA!

Some closing words:

 [I]t is safe to say that all donors give money not to pay for office supplies and inflated salaries for executives, but rather to the programs that charities undertake to further their goals. Worst Charities In America

ASHA

60 Minutes Exposes Next ASHA Convention Speaker's Story: "Serious Questions" About Its Truth

(SEE UPDATE BELOW)
Someone at ASHA really needs to start doing background checks on their convention speakers because 60 Minutes has exposed their latest secular liberal-progressive do-gooder as a fake.

Three cups of B.S.

Greg Mortensen is scheduled to be the guest speaker at ASHA's next convention. His usual take is $30,000. According to investigators, major parts of his story about being captured by the Taliban and raising money for hundreds of girl's schools are nothing but fabrications. 60 Minutes reports that Mortensen spent more money last year flying around the world talking about educating girls than actually doing it. This is typical. The phonies who run many non-profits rake in the cash while the people the non-profits were set up to serve get little or nothing from them (when the non-profit isn't actually exploiting them).

ASHA files its tax returns as a non-profit.

This makes two disastrous strikes in a row for ASHA (you can read about last year's convention speaker by going here and here).

For years, ASHA relied on celebrities (including such speech and language experts as Jay Leno's wife and the drummer from the 80's has-been group Fleetwood Mac) to give the keynote speech at its conventions. Now they are apparently digging through Oprah's old coffee-stained show-guest lists - and it's turned out to be another embarrassment for them.

Dumpster diving at Oprah's house. "Maybe we can find Jenny McCarthy's phone number underneath those empty boxes of Oreo cookies!"

On ASHA's website, convention co-chair Kathy Coufal gushed:

What could be a more appropriate opening than having author and human rights activist Greg Mortenson provide the keynote address! 

Knowing ASHA as I do, I couldn't agree more, Kathy! It's a perfect fit for ASHA!

Let's see you wiggle your way out of this one, ASHA. Frankly, I hope you are forced (by contracts, etc.) to have a publicly disgraced speaker give your keynote address at this year's convention. If you do, I'll make some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the show.

Looks like Greg Mortenson, the author of best selling book ‘Three Cups of Tea’ may not be all he’s cracked up to be. In fact, if the CBS documentary set to air tonight is correct, he’s nothing but a big fat liar.

Mortenson is the mountaineer-philanthropist who’s book ‘Three Cups of Tea’, about building schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan has sold several million copies. Now, it looks like the parts about how many schools he’s actually built (he says enough for 60,000 girls – true statistics are far lower than that), the section where he was kidnapped by the Taliban (the Taliban says it never happened) and the bit where much of the money he’s raised with his book is going to help more girls (it’s actually paying for private jets for Mortenson) are nothing but fabrication and lies. Link

On his website, gregmortenson.com, Mortenson claims the kidnapping was carried out by the Taliban. However, the Taliban had no presence in Waziristan in 1996, only arriving in the region after their fall from power in Afghanistan in the winter of 2001. Link

(Author) Krakauer reported that millions of dollars donated to the charity were spent on chartered jets, equipment and advertising for Mortenson's books, even though the charity doesn't receive any royalties for them. One former Central Asia Institute board member told Krakauer that Mortenson "regards CAI as his personal ATM. US official opens inquiry into charity run by 'Three Cups of Tea' co-author

Update 4/21/11: ASHA has now scrubbed its site of all references to Mortensen. This is typical for "we never admit mistakes; we make believe they never happened" ASHA. ASHA might as well stand for the "American Sneaky Hush-Hush Association."

Looks like they are going to need a new speaker for this year's convention. I have a suggestion:

Charlie Sheen: a perfect fit for ASHA

 S.F. Chronicle columnist Debbie Saunders does an excellent job of analyzing why so many (let's include liberal progressive, pro-gay agenda, Obama-adoring ASHA here) drank the Kool-aid given out by the Mortensen adoration cult. A sample:

(Back in 2008, critics) suggested that readers take his tales with "three grains of salt." Instead, he (Mortensen) sold 3 million books. Why? Through the pouring of "Three Cups," Mortenson came to personify every liberal conceit. He pushed books, not bombs. He had a nuanced take on Islamic extremism. He's not afraid of terrorism; for him, "the enemy is ignorance." Marlowe observed, "The implication is that this solitary do-gooder's work is a better model for helping the rural poor in areas that are a breeding ground for Islamic extremism." While to the contrary, the U.S. Army built more schools in just one Afghan province in 15 months than CAI built in a decade. (Italics added. Link)

Stung By Criticism, ASHA Suddenly Discovers Religion: Claims They're "Practicing Catholics"

Due to the holy season and my church activities, I won't be able to post for a few more weeks. When I am finally able to sit down and give this blog more attention, I have some financial information that will be of great interest to this blog's readers. Any post having to do with ASHA's finances (and the exorbitant salaries that ASHA's bosses make) gets a huge number of hits and it won't be any different this time. If anything, the outrage is certain to increase exponentially.
Some quick notes so I can clear some of the clutter off my desk:
- Is the number of Ph.D's who are planning to resign from ASHA due to "conscientious objections" now up to two?
- Stung by criticism of its liberal progressive agenda, ASHA has apparently suddenly discovered religion. ASHA is now telling private correspondents complaining of ASHA's controversial record on ethical and moral issues (see here, here, here, here, and here to start) that board members are "practicing Catholics," something that will come as quite a surprise to anyone who has corresponded with ASHA in the last few years about these serious issues.
They're practicing Catholics.
And I'm a liberal progressive.
Okay, Arlene Pietranton and company - prove it.
Agree to the following statement, one that no sincere and faithful Catholic would hesitate for an instant to agree with:

I (sign here) do affirm my agreement with the Holy Roman Catholic Church in its moral teachings, including the following:

1) Abortion, being the taking of innocent human life, is a mortal sin.

2) Homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and sinful. "Basing itself on sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2357).

If you and the board members can't sign that statement without any hesitation, there's no reason for anyone to take your claim of being a "practicing Catholic" seriously. As for me, I regard this very timely claim of ASHA's to be nothing but blasphemous opportunism.

Dear Lord, should we faithfully serve you and follow your teachings or go for the big bucks by running a morally questionable professional organization that alienates and offends Christians?

- In response to inquiries, here's my therapy rule on dealing with gay clients: if the gay client doesn't bring up their sexuality in therapy, I won't bring up my faith. Deal?

-In response to claims that male-to-female transgenders are really women: cutting off your penis no more makes you a woman than cutting off one of your legs makes you a pogo stick. Any man who voluntarily gets himself castrated and injected with female hormones is profoundly dysfunctional - insane. And no amount of shoplifted cosmetics and evening gowns will make you a woman - it only makes you a very, very screwed-up man - and ASHA's idea of an excellent candidate for its board of directors!

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