Money Matters

Written by Declan on March 14th, 2014 Categories: Latest | no comments so far. write your own »

Anyone not based in Ireland would be forgiven for knowing nothing about the public outcry there in recent months over the scandalous revelations of obscene salaries being commanded by the CEOs of some of the country’s larger charitable bodies. The sheer level of disgust and anger at the seemingly shameless sense of entitlement with which many of these CEOs greedily availed of funds that had been raised for the benefit of the various causes for which they worked, has the very real potential of doing very serious damage to the fund-raising capacity of all charitable operations in Ireland – not just the guilty giants. I don’t think the justifiable anger was caused solely by the fact that some of these CEOs were earning in excess of what many of our over-paid politicians continue to reward themselves with, but more the blatant lies, deceit and half-truths that permeated the protracted public enquiry which made headlines almost every day for months since last November.

The whole scandal prompted me to write this article for the February issue of the West Cork People (a local monthly newspaper through which I try to keep just-one‘s original supporters informed of the work they kindly empower us to undertake) and feel I’d better take the opportunity to share it on this here blog before another lexical drought sets in! I could certainly be accused of being a stupid idealist for refusing to take a regular salary from the funds I raise for just-one‘s work but, as I outlined in the article, it’s not that I haven’t wanted (or more importantly – needed) to be paid, but have simply remained stubbornly insistent that any payment I might receive can not come from our regular project funds – which are raised from people like you who generously donate some of their hard-earned cash to help make the world a better place. Maybe if the CEOs implicated in these recent improprieties had held even remotely similar reservations about where the funds for their excessive salaries and golden-handshake retirement packages were actually being sourced, then the whole top-ups scandal might never have even happened.

Screen-shot of West Cork People's website featuring just-one's article published in February

A recent article written for February’s edition of the West Cork People

It’s been overly idealistic of me, perhaps, and the economic downturn of the last few years certainly hasn’t helped us recruit any more than a few corporate donors for the specific purpose of paying me a wage, but I’ve simply done what I felt was right and I’m still hopeful there are folks out there who’d be happy to contribute if only they were asked. If that might, by chance, be you then consider yourself asked and know that I’m not even looking for minimum wage! Actually, as I outline in the article above, I’ve never been convinced by the “we have to offer pay on par with the commercial sector” argument that’s often put forward by the big guns of the non-profit world and honestly believe that anyone wanting the salary of a corporate CEO should throw their hat in the ring of multinational recruitment and see how well they fare… Surely if they’re of ‘that calibre’ they’ll be comfortably seated in some plush boardroom in time for their next jumbo-sized pay cheque… no?

Anyway, I suppose the main point of all this is to simply reassure our past and current supporters (and perhaps assure a few new ones too) that just-one‘s an organisation which will always endeavour to ensure that whatever financial assistance we receive will be spend in the most cost-effective and appropriate manner for the benefit of the children and families we continue to work here in Nepal. If you’ve been involved in supporting our work in any way in the past, then you can feel proud of what you’ve helped us achieved to date – like 4 kids who are mere weeks away from completing their second-level education. If you haven’t yet supported us but think you might like to, then know that whatever you might choose to donate here will be hugely appreciated by all at just-one and will be central to the continued success of our our important work.

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