Should there be a cap on Charitable Exec Salaries?

From seemingly out of no where, we learn about Bill C-470 which is proposing a salary cap of $250,000 on salaries in the charitable sector. For the record, this type of a cap is not an issue for any of the charities that I know or work with. We are much more fussed with making a living wage in the sector, but the issue of a salary cap and the way that the opposition is just glauming on to this issue raises a bunch of issues for me. For a more detailed analysis, check out the article on the Carters site. My own questions include:

- if we are to attract the talent that is going to be necessary to actually solve our social problems, we are going to need to be able to compete in the market place. How do we do this, if not through salaries?

- when we look at the size of some of these charities, they are larger than many large corporations and they require skills and experience to operate. Do we want our largest charities lacking in the knowledge or capacity to succeed?

- do the opposition leaders actually know anything about the nonprofit sector that they are seeking to place in a box? are we prepared to generalize? have they done their homework? or is this just one of those gut reactions?

- I can see the argument for strong accountability for charitable donations but many of these charities are delivering some of our most important health and education services, largely with pubic dollars. Where is the balance?

- I totally get trying to protect the public purse from abuse.. and there is no question that a $2.7m payout to the CEO of Sick Kids is disgusting, but I have a feeling that putting an absolute number into the bill will mean trouble in the long run. One more hoop to have to struggle through in the charitable sector.

I guess that my greatest concern is this sense that the only place that one can succeed financially is in the business sector. Increasingly, this move toward great regulation keeps pushing us towards the for-profit model.... doesn't feel like social entrepreneurship to me.

Fascinating the way that the winds are blowing.... it is no wonder it has been so hard to get nonprofits to become more entrepreneurial - all other indicators squash the momentum.

my two cents.

- here is a summary of what is happening...from the Carters site

On March 3, 2010, Bill C-470, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (revocation of registration)[1], was introduced in the House of Commons as a Private Members’ Bill by Albina Guarnieri, MP for Mississauga East – Cooksville.[2] Bill C-470 seeks to impose a salary cap of $250,000 for any executive or employee of charitable organizations, as well as public and private foundations. Bill C-470 has received support from the Liberal Party, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP.  Impetus for Bill C-470 derives from reported news stories by the Canadian press on excessive salaries by a small percentage of charities. At the time of second reading of Bill C-470, Ms. Guarnieri cited an October 1, 2009 news story from the Toronto Star, in which it was reported that the former president of SickKids Foundation received 2.7 million dollars on leaving the organization.[3] Ms. Guarnieri suggests that Bill C-470 can, “replace doubt and cynicism about the management of charities with the confidence that the personal financial sacrifice of donors is managed by people who are paid well but not so well as to make a mockery of the concept of charity.”[4] At the time of writing, Bill C-470 is still to be debated when the Bill returns before the House of Commons before being referred to a committee, so its outcome is uncertain. Nevertheless, Bill C-470 raises a number of important issues that may be of concern to some in the charitable sector.