“Policy built on lies leads to, at best confusion, at worst chaos — At best it is distracting, at worst it is destructive.” ~Marian Conway
A County Bill to Regulate Not For Profit Executive Compensation
Res. No. 1687-2024 is a bill that would exclude any not for profit agency (excluding hospitals) who pay any employees more than $250,000 (the current salary of Governor Kathy Hochul) from Suffolk County funding. For reasons well beyond that number, many have been horrified. They find this proposal epitomizes misconceptions regarding how the nonprofit sector should be valued, and how individual organizations should be evaluated.
Dr. Conway will be clear that the nonprofit sector is not calling those advancing this resolution liars. However, she has endeavored repeatedly to offer her extensive expertise to correct some of these misconceptions, and finds she had been repeatedly ignored.
Please Listen to this Woman. She Knows What She's Talking About. Probably Better Than Anyone.
Marian Conway has served the NY Community Bank Foundation since 2002. She advanced there from Program Officer to Executive Director in 2007. It’s a somewhat unique organization in that, beyond the grants they give, they spend a lot of time offering consultation to the local organizations they support.
Marian has also sat on many, many non-profit boards. Some of these have included The Cleary Foundation for the Deaf, Community Development Corporation of LI, Farm Education Inc, Long Island Arts Alliance (Board Chair), The Middle Country Library Foundation, SUNY Empire State College Foundation (Board Chair), The Queens Chamber Foundation, The Red Cross of Long Island, and the Urban League of Long Island. These are far from all the groups she’s been closely connected with.
In 2013, Dr. Conway achieved her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration, Nonprofit Management from Walden University. Her dissertation specifically explored “What are the general operating expenses for nonprofits and who pays them.”
Marian Conway is also a teacher, both formally and just because it’s who she is. Usually the lessons are about what NOT to do, but she also tries to reinforce the good. We have been honored to let her blow off some steam here before. Here is her testimony regarding this resolution:
Testimony by Marian Conway Regarding Suffolk County Resolution No 1687-2024
To be clear, my primary job is not writing checks. It is performing the due diligence on the nonprofit organizations. I have read thousands of 990s, visited countless nonprofits. I should also add that my doctoral dissertation is “Nonprofits General Operating Costs on Long Island and How They Are Paid.” It is important to note here, it is not true that that taxpayers pay for nonprofit executives. I do.
Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey & Members of the Suffolk County Legislature, I am the executive director of NYCB Foundation. I have been a funder of nonprofit organizations on Long Island for over twenty-two years, providing $33 million dollars to our nonprofits who do the hard work to fix what is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be able to say my career is all about helping people. I am also a member of a few nonprofit boards, including Chair of the $40 million SUNY Empire State Foundation. I know nonprofits inside and out.
To be clear, my primary job is not writing checks. It is performing the due diligence on the nonprofit organizations. I have read thousands of 990s, visited countless nonprofits. I should also add that my doctoral dissertation is “Nonprofits General Operating Costs on Long Island and How They Are Paid.” It is important to note here, it is not true that that taxpayers pay for nonprofit executives. I do.
Dissecting nonprofits operating costs, and singling out the executive directors’ pay for the organizations who literally provide life-saving services to the county, while giving for-profit companies a pass, is bias and contractual inequity.
I know this has been said, but it bears repeating, if “for-profit” companies bid for work in Suffolk County – to pave the roads or pick up trash from county buildings for instance – the pay level of the CEOs is not put under a microscope. The general operating costs, which includes pay to those executives and even money for a profit to the company, are within the bid.
Dissecting nonprofits operating costs, and singling out the executive directors’ pay for the organizations who literally provide life-saving services to the county, while giving for-profit companies a pass, is bias and contractual inequity. This is why Gov. Cuomo’s Executive Order #38, which tried to control overhead expenses for nonprofits that had state contracts, eventually fell apart – there were numerous lawsuits, and in the end, it could not be legally justified.
The idea that my tax dollars may have to go towards lawyers for you to defend this ridiculous bill is offensive.
The idea that my tax dollars may have to go towards lawyers for you to defend this ridiculous bill is offensive.
The Appeals court, in their decision on the governors #38, noted the fact that there are other sources for revenue, not just state contracts. The financial end-all, be-all of nonprofits is donor intent. I had an enlightening chat with James Sheehan of the AG’s Charity Bureau a few years ago. He could not stress it enough: There is no difference whether you have a fee-based contract, or have donated to the nonprofit, you unequivocally cannot decide how any other donor dollars are spent. The donor intent for the Foundation where I work, and, in fact my personal intent, is for general operating expenses. Again, taxpayers do not pay the nonprofit executives’ pay. I do. The Ford Foundation was the first significant foundation to make a lot of noise about doing it a few years ago, but we were already covering nonprofit staff costs. I donate to an organization as a whole.
I want to fund the best of the best to assist my neighbors. It takes more than a good heart, it takes expertise, talent, experience, and often specialized education, to staff nonprofits. I WANT TO PAY FOR EXPERTS. We should all want that.
I want to fund the best of the best to assist my neighbors. It takes more than a good heart, it takes expertise, talent, experience, and often specialized education, to staff nonprofits. I WANT TO PAY FOR EXPERTS. We should all want that. It takes an enormous amount of personal hubris to believe you can tell the skilled professionals at these organizations what costs are necessary to do their good work. And one last time, taxpayers do not pay the nonprofit executive’s pay. I do, along with other donors who give to the organization.
WHEN YOU STRENGTHEN THE NONPROFIT that shows up after every disaster, that feeds the hungry, that cares for the abused child, that helps an individual who has mental or physical disease to achieve a healthy life – YOU STRENGTHEN THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY. If you short-change these organizations that are staffed by individuals whose careers are all about helping everyone else, you shortchange us all.
A community is only as strong as its weakest members. Rather than wasting this time in order to micro-control the organizations that do that extremely difficult work, we should all work together as a community to raise everyone up.
WHEN YOU STRENGTHEN THE NONPROFIT that shows up after every disaster, that feeds the hungry, that cares for the abused child, that helps an individual who has mental or physical disease to achieve a healthy life – YOU STRENGTHEN THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY. If you short-change these organizations that are staffed by individuals whose careers are all about helping everyone else, you shortchange us all.
A community is only as strong as its weakest members. Rather than wasting this time in order to micro-control the organizations that do that extremely difficult work, we should all work together as a community to raise everyone up.
