No one allowed “King to get away with her financial shenanigans,” as Powell describes it. And a “hello?” to the pained Uptown paper of record editorial board and even WBT’s Keith Larson, whom I believe described the United Way board as “asleep at the switch.”
No, I think this bunch was wide awake. And much like the country’s imploding financial sector, we got exactly the results those in charge wanted, namely spreading around “free” money far and wide without regard to the long-term consequences. For the local United Way, those consequences are a loss of public trust and $20m. hole where money for the good causes used to be.
But short-term everyone was all on board paying Gloria Pace King sacks of cash. They had to be because no one questioned the need to retain her or the quality of her performance. This is the great deliberately unanswered question of Bob Sink’s much-praised report: Who thought King was worth additional compensation, besides King? Nevermind the size and scope and method of that compensation, which was handed-off to the never-neverland of consultants. There is absolutely no evidence that anyone with the United Way thought King was over-compensated for her work. From there it is a short leap to pay her more.
Not only that, no one blinked when the form of that additional compensation immediately and directly sought to skirt IRS limits on non-profit compensation. The working assumption was that King deserved to receive retirement matching funds in line with her salary, not the tax code’s retirement plan compensation limits. Hell, why not throw in stock options if we are talking about things outside the scope of non-profit compensation.
And Powell’s unfocused “groupthink” is a poor rationale for the process that gave King more. A much simpler cause is that the United Way insiders, by paying King ever-more money, were willfully aggrandizing themselves. “Look at us! We have the highest paid (and ergo best) charity CEO in the country!” I mean, you cannot possibly look at the roster of the people involved and think this thought did not cross their striving, preening minds.
Besides, it wasn’t their money they were giving to King. They’d just go out and demand more from their corporate direct-reports.
Bottomline, you can tell just how aware the Uptown crowd was of King’s out-sized compensation by the continued sack-cloth and ashes routine. Just like the fake loans Bank of America and Wachovia loaded up as their real capital shrank, paying Uptown’s charity chief millions kept up the illusion of responsible corporate citizenship for those obsessed with appearances.
