One of the most popular articles here on Telofski.com is the post titled “Greenpeace CEO Makes ‘More’ Than Exxon CEO?” Based on a review of my site’s stats, it seems that many folks like to read about the compensation received by Greenpeace executives and officers. So, give the people what they want, right? Here’s another post about Greenpeace executive compensation.

Background

American non-profit organizations are required to file annually a Form 990 with the Internal Revenue Service. This document is a tax return giving details about the organization’s financial operation. Form 990s are documents open for public review. An organization’s Form 990 for any year may be obtained directly from the IRS, from the organization itself, or via intermediary organizations. One of those intermediaries is Guidestar.org, which catalogues and makes available non-profit organizations’ Form 990s. It was Guidestar that I used to obtain the financial information shown in today’s post. But before we get to the numbers, let’s get some organizational explanations out of the way first.

Greenpeace is essentially comprised of two separate corporations. One is Greenpeace, Inc. which is a 501(c)(4) organization. What does that mean? Let’s allow Wikipedia to explain:

“501(c)(4) organizations are generally civic leagues and other corporations operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare, or local associations of employees with membership limited to a designated company or people in a particular municipality or neighborhood, and with net earnings devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes. 501(c)(4) organizations may lobby for legislation, and unlike 501(c)(3) organizations they may also participate in political campaigns and elections, as long as campaigning is not the organization’s primary purpose.”

Greenpeace, Inc. is the well-known, general kibbitzing and protest organization that one usually thinks of when the word “Greenpeace” is mentioned. This is the organization that oversees the folks who climb corporate headquarters buildings, bridges, national monuments, and who dress up as animals and then burst into annual meetings of shareholders.

The other Greenpeace corporation, which is not as well known, is Greenpeace Fund, Inc. This corporation is a 501(c)(3) organization. What does that mean? Again, let’s allow Wikipedia to explain.

“501(c)(3) exemptions apply to corporations, and any community chest, fund, cooperating association or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes, to foster national or international amateur sports competition, to promote the arts, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals.”

Both (3)’s and (4)’s are income tax-exempt organizations. Contributions to 501(c)(4)’s are not tax deductible for purposes of U.S. income tax, while contributions to 501(c)(3)’s are usually deductible. Consider that the next time you reach into your pocket to support Greenpeace.

Findings

Several of the executives from both Greenpeace, Inc. and Greenpeace Fund, Inc. work for each of the two corporations, drawing an executive salary from each organization. Executive compensation is detailed on Form 990s. I reviewed the Form 990s, obtained via Guidestar.org, for each of the two corporations

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