Ladies....I have some bad news about the OC Quilt (and the NOCC)

Hissy_Fitz said:

Yesterday may have been
Yesterday may have been God's way of telling me to disassociate myself from the NOCC.


I could not find a form 990 for the NOCC since 2009, but for that year (the last one published on their website was 2007), but their 2009 form 990 is available online, for free. Google it if you doubt any of this data.

Total revenue (including grants) - $2,695,977
Salaries of $1,174,837
Total Expenses of $3,261,818

In Jan - May of 2009, the CEO of the organization was Carol J Ansley, and she pulled in a comfy $107,523 for FIVE MONTHS WORK.

Katrina Kuzniuk, Director of Finance, was paid $90,002.

Jack Walton, Director of Development earned $116,010

And Luann Anderson, Director of Operations was paid $100,06

"Other Salaries and Wages" was reported as $783,973

Pension Plan Contributions and Employee Benefits ate up an additional $37,387

Accounting costs were listed as $39,475 and "other" as $190,757 (that's a lot of "other").

Office Expense.....$397,430
Advertising and Promotion....$333,614
Travel...$129,024

Awareness Events, it says, cost them $519,130

Sorry, but I'm not feeling the love here. For an annual outlay of "salaries and wages" of almost $2 million dollars, plus perks, I think they could have done a better job Saturday.

In addition to the fiasco with the quilt there were other issues. They ran out of numbers, which meant that people who registered late were not eligible for any of the "free" drawings (meaning other than the raffles). They were charged full price anyway and told to "consider it a donation to the cause." Worst of all, there was vehicle traffic permitted on the run/walk route while the most vulnerable "stragglers" were still walking: elderly people, cancer survivors, and those with small children. There were no signs and volunteers refused to do anything about a VERY dangerous situation.

Last year, while we were sorting raffle items, one volunteer overheard a paid staffer admire a teal Coach purse that had been donated, saying, "I hope this doesn't go to a survivor!" Yeah.....class act, for real.


Carlene

Hissy_Fitz said:

Yesterday may have been
Yesterday may have been God's way of telling me to disassociate myself from the NOCC.


I could not find a form 990 for the NOCC since 2009, but for that year (the last one published on their website was 2007), but their 2009 form 990 is available online, for free. Google it if you doubt any of this data.

Total revenue (including grants) - $2,695,977
Salaries of $1,174,837
Total Expenses of $3,261,818

In Jan - May of 2009, the CEO of the organization was Carol J Ansley, and she pulled in a comfy $107,523 for FIVE MONTHS WORK.

Katrina Kuzniuk, Director of Finance, was paid $90,002.

Jack Walton, Director of Development earned $116,010

And Luann Anderson, Director of Operations was paid $100,06

"Other Salaries and Wages" was reported as $783,973

Pension Plan Contributions and Employee Benefits ate up an additional $37,387

Accounting costs were listed as $39,475 and "other" as $190,757 (that's a lot of "other").

Office Expense.....$397,430
Advertising and Promotion....$333,614
Travel...$129,024

Awareness Events, it says, cost them $519,130

Sorry, but I'm not feeling the love here. For an annual outlay of "salaries and wages" of almost $2 million dollars, plus perks, I think they could have done a better job Saturday.

In addition to the fiasco with the quilt there were other issues. They ran out of numbers, which meant that people who registered late were not eligible for any of the "free" drawings (meaning other than the raffles). They were charged full price anyway and told to "consider it a donation to the cause." Worst of all, there was vehicle traffic permitted on the run/walk route while the most vulnerable "stragglers" were still walking: elderly people, cancer survivors, and those with small children. There were no signs and volunteers refused to do anything about a VERY dangerous situation.

Last year, while we were sorting raffle items, one volunteer overheard a paid staffer admire a teal Coach purse that had been donated, saying, "I hope this doesn't go to a survivor!" Yeah.....class act, for real.


Carlene

MK_4Dani said:

Mover and a Shaker
Get 'em Carlene, don't let 'em up until they say "uncle". A real nice apology and a list of lessons learned that all NOCC chapters should follow when conducting raffles and such.

P.S. In my county a non profit has to get a raffle license with strict rules. Does your county have raffle license requirements?

Mary

I realize that this conversation started a long time ago, but when I came across it, I just had to comment.  There's never any excuse for rudeness, and that's a law that I live by: You can say anything that you have to say nicely.  However, I would caution against publicly blasting and boycotting an entire organization based on a couple of incidents.  I am an OC survivor, and I've had nothing but a fabulous experience with NOCC, its staff and events.

I have also worked for many nonprofits, and almost without exception, they operate on a very thin operating budget relative to whatever they are trying to accomplish.  When you have too much work, too few people and even less funds, mistakes and frayed nerves are possible on occasion...even though, they should strive for 100% satisfaction all the time.  (However, I hope the comment about the purse was a misunderstanding, because that is unimaginable.)

To the woman who said that her father was president many times without pay... that is wonderful that your father volunteered on so many Boards, but are you suggesting that nonprofits should have no paid staff much less at competitive salaries.  Staff salaries are a valid and important part of program overhead.  We all have to make a living, and why should only oil, technology and other for-profit executives make good salaries?  People who work for nonprofits do it, because they love it.  They typically could make much more money elsewhere, and I ask you to imagine if we recruited the TOP talent in the country to take on the issues of poverty, hunger, education and disease instead of paying them the least what could be accomplished.  Please watch this video from the TED conference, which eloquently illustrates what this concept could achieve:
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong.html

I sincerely hope that you'll take the time to watch this video, because it is time for more progressive thinking when it comes to charities so that we discontinue the old, small version of a nonprofit for one that SOLVES problems and CURES diseases.  There are a lot of people out there that have school loans from college and graduate programs that would still like to send their own kids to college someday to be the researcher that cures a disease like cancer...I hope that these people aren't forced into other professions.  Could you imagine a social entrepeneur that raises $100 billion for research instead of for Exxon or Apple?

Imagine the possibilities.