Monday, November 16, 2015

The latest ACS form 990 from 2014

The latest ACS form 990 from 2014. N.B. Madeleine Jacobs has retired and Tom Connelly is now the current CEO of the American Chemical Society.


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16 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 17, 2015 at 7:08 AM

    Wow! What a compensation and one had to ask do they really deserve? I am just curious if there is someway we can get the information on other chemical society operatives in other countries? I mean do they rake in as much as the one listed here? I was just mailed ACS membership renewal for 2016 and am seething with anger if it is still worth it after 30 year membership? And, I was one among many shown the door by the big pharma and ACS did nothing! Do they realize that pharma is still bleeding job? CJ- I am also curious to find out how many people quit on their ACS membership after the last big recession in 2008 and pharma shakeout.

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    1. ChemjobberNovember 17, 2015 at 9:18 AM

      From the inbox, someone comments:

      "[T]he RSC's 2014 financial statement is here: http://www.rsc.org/globalassets/02-about-us/corporate-documents/financial-statement-trustee-report-2014.pdf

      No names (p.35), but the top compensated employee makes less than 179 GBP (~$270k). The next drops down below $200K, and there are only 25 employees (out of 559) who make more than ~$90K."

      Delete
    2. AnonymousNovember 17, 2015 at 12:34 PM

      To reiterate, "That leaves about $1 million, which is used, in part, to help fund all other society programs, including advocacy, career services, awards, national meetings, National Chemistry Week, governance activities, and too many other benefits to list here."

      Mutliple coice: If your NPO or as we used to call it "charity" spends as much on their CEO than its mission, then your contributions are:
      a) a scam
      b) a rip-off
      c) a fraud

      Delete
    3. ChemjobberNovember 17, 2015 at 12:46 PM

      It's worth pointing out your quote is about the amount of ACS dues that is dedicated to society programs. ACS Pubs, etc. contributes many? most? of its revenue to society program support.

      Here is the ACS financial report for 2014: https://acswebcontent.acs.org/annualreport/financials_financialsummary.html

      As you can see, the total budget for "Member Programs and Services" is ~$43 million dollars.

      Delete
    4. AnonymousNovember 17, 2015 at 1:18 PM

      I realize it's not a one-to-one comparison but seriously... If they wanted to leave the impression it's a scam they couldn't do much better.

      To play around with their numbers for a minute, that's $43 M for member programs and services on total income $506 M, for 8.5%. Not too impressive. Or adding up Column E from the last figure above gives a total $6.83 million which is ~16% of the $43 M you quote. That's just the board. Just the board.

      Delete
  2. NMHNovember 17, 2015 at 9:59 AM

    I guess one of the things I'm seeing is if you want a ginormous salary, work in administration in a non-profit organization. I hear about outrageous salaries in things like the Susan Komen foundation and hospitals that are declared non-profit.

    There really is not much that can be done about this short of changing the law, but Im sure these organizations have armies of lobbyists to make sure that won't happen.

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  3. Harry ElstonNovember 17, 2015 at 10:51 AM

    I've heard it said, "Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out grain" and "A worker is worthy his wages" and I have to commend the employees of the ACS for their negotiation prowess. Clearly *someone* thinks that the former CEO was worthy a $650K salary and almost $200K "bonus" (what the hell??), but that *someone* is not me.

    Reading the 2014 990 didn't make me feel better about the use of my dues, CJ, but it did clear up the exact location of the "black hole" to which I referred a few postings ago.

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    1. ChemjobberNovember 17, 2015 at 10:56 AM

      Consistent as always, Harry, you're a man of principle: http://chemjobber.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-latest-acs-form-990.html?showComment=1418072475715#c2037926720773710865

      Delete
    2. NMHNovember 17, 2015 at 11:23 AM

      And Im sure will hear the same thing from Harry the next year.

      Its all about power and, the extreme privilige one gets from it. Smile the right way, make friends with the right people, say the right things, and you win, and win big. Not quite up to snuff, or in the right place at the right time? Nowadays, that can render you impoverished.

      Delete
  4. biotechtoreadorNovember 17, 2015 at 3:19 PM

    Well done ACS!

    If I understand the ACS business model, and I may not, it makes most of its $600 million revenue (from which it pays just over $6 million to its named executives) by getting free content from chemists that is reviewed for free by other chemists and then sold to chemists. Outstanding!

    And people get their panties in a bunch when a pharmaceutical company that actually does something raises prices.....

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    1. ChemjobberNovember 17, 2015 at 5:43 PM

      " getting free content from chemists that is reviewed for free by other chemists and then sold to chemists."

      ...and it's 90%+ funded by the taxpayer. A win! A win!

      Delete
  5. AnonymousNovember 17, 2015 at 5:41 PM

    Wow, this is obscene. To quote Joseph Welch, "Have you no sense of decency"?

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  6. ChemjobberNovember 17, 2015 at 5:44 PM

    Over/under on Tom Connelly's salary? I gotta go $1,000,000 total compensation. (Salary + bonus + etc)

    If it were 1 million, it's probably under. Probably.

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  7. KTNovember 18, 2015 at 8:37 AM

    I'm involved in a few other, more industrially-focused professional societies. The smaller one is completely volunteer-run, and the larger one uses an association management company for help with organizing things. They both cost a heck of a lot less to run than the ACS, charge their members much less, and I find the memberships much more useful.

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  8. AnonymousNovember 21, 2015 at 7:57 PM

    Get Poor PhD and Porf to do free review of articles, get Univ libraries to pay a buttload of money for journals, pay yourself a fat paycheck. Nice business model

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  9. AnonymousNovember 23, 2015 at 10:26 AM

    What would really be awesome is if the board members had no science-related degree or professional experience. A job as a board member of the ACS sounds like a Warren Buffett kind of investment - something where it's incredibly easy to make money without much thought.

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looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20

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