Evangelist agrees to reduced benefits from charities

Concerns about his rising financial compensation during tough economic times have prompted evangelist Franklin Graham to temporarily give up future contributions to his retirement plans at the two charities he leads.

As president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse, he receives two full-time salaries and two retirement packages. Last year his total compensation from the two Christian ministries was $1.2million.

The size of Graham's total 2008 compensation -- $535,000 from Samaritan's Purse and $669,000 from Charlotte-based BGEA -- drew questions from nonprofit experts interviewed by The Charlotte Observer. They doubted that one person -- even the energetic, globe-trotting Graham -- can do two full-time jobs leading organizations that employ hundreds and spend hundreds of millions around the world.

As head of the Boone-based Samaritan's Purse, Graham earned more last year than any other leader of an international relief agency based in the United States. That includes eight with larger budgets, according to data compiled by Guidestar, a group that monitors nonprofits.

Graham, 57, and his two boards of directors pointed out that most of his 2008 compensation came not from increases in his salaries, which have remained flat in recent years, but from accelerated contributions to his retirement. Still, even with the accelerated retirement payments taken out, Graham's compensation at BGEA rose 21 percent in 2008, from $250,000 to $303,000. The median increase for CEOs at the nation's biggest charities in 2008 was 7 percent, according to an annual survey released last week by the Journal of Philanthropy.

Graham acknowledged last week that his compensation total "looks terrible" and that "people won't understand it."

News of his pay increase comes only months after BGEA laid off more than 10 percent of its staff.

On Tuesday night, after nearly a week of fielding questions about his compensation, he asked the heads of the two ministries' compensation committees to cut off contributions to his retirement plan "for the time being."

Graham spokesman Mark DeMoss said "the [BGEA] compensation committee believes the overall compensation approved for Franklin was appropriate, but Franklin believes the impression given by these somewhat unusual reporting procedures is not a good one. ... If or when the economic situation improves significantly he will consider accepting contributions to his retirement plan."

Some charity watchers said they know of no other instance where one person leads two such large organizations. And they wondered whether it was possible to effectively do so.

"It's a very strange and somewhat unique situation ... and it raises questions," said Ken Berger, president of Charity Navigator, the nation's largest evaluator of nonprofits.

Pablo Eisenberg, a senior fellow at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute said: "How can you do two full-time jobs at the same time? It's outrageous."

Noelle Barton, manager of special projects at the Journal of Philanthropy, said she couldn't think of another example in her newspaper's annual survey of nonprofit leaders' compensation of one person wearing two CEO hats. "It's definitely not the norm," she said. "They're big jobs."

Asked about how he juggles the positions, Graham said, "You work a little bit all the time. It's not a 9-to-5 job."

He said he often works into the night at his Samaritan's Purse office in Boone, works every weekend and works at his home, "answering phone calls, thinking about it, strategizing."

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