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Opinion Talk

Is CEO pay at Angel Food Ministries excessive?

11:45 am March 18, 2009, by AJC Opinion

Gary Snyder, author author of “Nonprofits: On the Brink,” writes that: “The charitable sector is struggling to keep the public’s confidence because it lacks good governance, financial accountability, transparency and provisions against conflicts of interests. It mirrors the attributes — greed, arrogance and outrageous corporate behavior — assigned to the for-profit sector. Angel Food Ministries is an example.”

Angel Food “may be fulfilling its mission by delivering food, but it is not delivering on credibility,” he writes.

W. Joseph Wingo, CEO of Angel Food Ministries, argues: “At the helm of this ministry is a fairly compensated CEO. My idea to help people grew with 17-hour workdays over 15 years, five of which were wholly unpaid. An independent compensation study in April 2008 determined that my salary and compensation ‘falls within a reasonable range of competitive practices for like positions among like organizations providing like services and is therefore reasonable.’ ”

Read the full text of their responses and have your say about their commentaries.

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8 comments Add your comment

GIZMO

March 18th, 2009
1:40 pm

NON-PROFIT SHOULD MEAN NONE PROFIT!!! RELIGIOUS OR NOT!! (at least 1% of what your profit is.)
As an Ex-employee of AFM I myself had problems with the management there, They treated me so bad I went to the labor board. However, I learned quick that if a company is like AFM they follow under DIFFERENT work regulations that the states labor cannot touch! SO BE CAREFUL!

If not, maybe I should start a non-profit myself.

Jan Sinnc

March 18th, 2009
2:23 pm

They raised the price of the food and raised their own salaries. If there was enough money for raises, there should have also been enough to give more food. There is no way that the box feeds a family of 4 for a week. Even a family with very young children would need much more food than this. The substitutions that they make every month make it an even lesser value. We ordered several times and did not consider it to be an outstanding value. Smart shopping would produce about the same results with foods we would actually eat. The idea of the ministry is wonderful, but they could have done a lot better in the name of charity.

Garet Robinson

March 18th, 2009
3:29 pm

Non-profit ministries have an unwritten contract with those who support them to be wise managers of the finances they are given. It is sad to see this kind of thing happen because it ripples across other ministries, even those not directly associated with this one.

When I told some of my friends about the investigation and referred them to these well researched articles their voices were of anger and frustration. As supporters of this ministry some felt violated that their donations went to support a lavish lifestyle and corruption. Others were angry about how this had limited the lives which could have been impacted by the service of the ministry.

Overall it really demonstrates why we need more organizations like the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability which helps police these kinds of organizations that exist under false pretenses. While I would never suggest we need a governmental body overseeing the process, we need our generous friends to know that there are bodies which can help.

I’m just still taken aback at the arrogance of the leadership to steal from those they were supposed to help. What bothers me more is how many more organizations like this are being damaged by corrupt leaders.

Thanks for the articles. They’ve been great examples of journalism!

demwit

March 19th, 2009
10:01 am

Of course CEO pay is exccessive…. Off with their heads!!

GDR

March 20th, 2009
2:02 pm

Like Jim Bakker (PTL Ministries) said in the late 1980’s – What do you pay someone who can raise $30,000,000.00 per month? Even if AFM is abusing their cash flow they are doing a good work & helping folks out (Full disclosre…I buy their food every month) – Was never intended to be the sole food supply/source for 1 week for a family of 4 – you do have to supplement it with other items. But it sure helps out the budget.

By the way, if you really want to criticize, make sure you have swallowed first! (or start your own ministry or non-profit & await your own turn for the criticisms after you become successful).

KRIS

March 20th, 2009
10:08 pm

O.K. like everything in the world someone messed up and others are mad. Well it looks like the world would be used to this by now. I buy angel food every month and have been doing this for about 6 mos. My family has made it through this winter with work slow on angel food. There are 5 in my family, and they love to eat. With angel food first thing you have to know is how to cook, they don’t do it for you! Everything I have cooked has been good and my family is grateful for them. I would like them to get back on track and lower the food, since it appears that they can. As long as they are here I will buy or as long as it is worth it.

AKG

March 21st, 2009
7:14 am

I purchased from Angel Food Ministries once. One thing that I did not like was the fact that so much of the food was from other countries. I do not like feeding my family food from other countries so for me this was not a good thing. I agree with the person above, good shopping for your own food is a better buy.

Hopeful

March 24th, 2009
12:22 pm

I volunteer to distribute Angel Food each month. It’s been wonderful to get to know people from the community. I never realized how much they were hurting. We buy some additional boxes of food to give out free to the neediest. A few people are too elderly or in wheelchairs to come to the church to pick up their food, so we deliver to them. Two people who received food are now volunteering with the distributions. We had a pot luck and a lady from the community spoke about how Angel Food has helped her family, and then unexpectedly she sang the song “Thank You for Giving to the Lord” a cappella. This is about more than distributing food and executive salaries, but also about impacting people and changing churches into outward-looking groups that serve their neighborhoods.