Most of us would not associate charities with luxury travel and high wages for their executives.
Consider the recent damaging press revelations about how much the chief executive of America’s Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Sarah Kate Ellis, was spending on first-class flights and plush hotels as well as home office renovations. Moreover, with bonuses her pay was over $600,000 in 2022, a lot for a relatively small charity.
This exceptional case taints the reputation of the many sensibly run non-profit groups and charities. Laurie Styron at CharityWatch, a US watchdog for the sector, knows about stories like this all too well: “In this area, you pull a thread and the whole thing starts to unravel.”