Ah, yes, the twinkling lights, the tinkling bells, the emails and the phone calls: ’tis the season to be hit up for donations. And hit up again. And again.
But let’s say you’re a little more stingy—er, discriminating—than that. One simple way to turn your despicable Scroogyness into rational and therefore acceptable behavior is to apply the handy-dandy executive pay test.
And in this brave new shame-free Trumpian world, it seems no one’s embarrassed about taking a one-percenter salary out of donations wangled from the less fortunate.
When “students and friends” recently pushed back against the announced sale of the Old Town School of Folk Music’s longtime Lincoln Park home, the compensation of executive director Bau Graves became an issue. An online petition signed by thousands noted that, “despite the lack of enrollment growth, and the School’s financial difficulties . . . Graves’s total compensation rose 52 percent from 2009 to 2016.” Graves, who is currently on a leave of absence, was compensated $254,871 in 2016.
