[Cadre-politics] Fearless Leader wages (board action)

[kristina_ickes at comcast.net]

My first observation is that the growth plan and expectations/predictions are not unreasonable. With a mature organization, infrasttructure and many of the processes, systems in place, the organization is scalable and the revenue targets are likely achievable and some might think, modest.  


However, perhaps the information might be edited to be a little less explanatory of philosphy and more succinct, thus readily digestable (further, the simpler the information imparted - the less likely it is that it will be interpreted as defensive or part of a pitch. 

Dan - I say run with the projections if you can hack it down to three paragraphs. 

~K
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-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Dan MacNeil <dan at thecsl.org> 

> When I met with Phill Hall of the Parker Foundation. He asked for 
> additional information. One of the things he asked for was a 
> few paragraphs explaining the rationale behind my salary and the 
> organization's plans to increase it. 
> 
> He was clear that to his board, (the people who award the money) 
> my salary was both a feature and a bug. A feature in a startup, a 
> bug in a sustainable organization. 
> 
> Strictly speaking, the last paragraph, the revenue growth plan 
> requires the board be aware of it. 
> 
> Because of the email server crash and my sleep recovery 
> yesterday. This now a couple days late. So ruthless feedback by 
> midnight tonight (12/05) would be helpful. 
> 
> ################################################################# 
> ################################################################# 
> The directors of the Community Software Lab and I very much want 
> my position as leader to have a reasonable salary and we are 
> planning for this goal. While we could not have started without 
> sacrifice, we know our effectiveness and longevity will be 
> limited unless we can pay our leader at least non-profit market 
> rate wages. 
> 
> When we started in 2004, our strengths were some goodwill, free 
> office space, free utilities, very solid technical skills and my 
> willingness to work for free. Our weaknesses were a lack of cash, 
> and little experience in fund raising or running a business. 
> Given this mix, the only way we could start was with volunteer 
> leadership. 
> 
> We are not the only non profit to start with an unpaid leader. 
> Millard Fuller, founder of Habiat for Humanity, wasn't paid for 
> the organization's first 5 years and made less than $25,000 per 
> year for the organization's next 10 years 
> 
> I was at Habitat International for 5 years during the end of the 
> transition from an organization powered mostly by full time, 
> live-in volunteers to an organization run by paid staff. I was on 
> the Board of greater Lowell Habitat for Humanity for 3 years 
> before they made the transition to a paid executive director. It 
> was a difficult but necessary transition in both cases. 
> 
> The Community Software Lab is not a club, a place for hobbyists 
> to putter around doing vague good. We serve other non-profits, 
> not ourselves. The board needs to be able to fire our leader. We 
> need funders like the Parker Foundation to take us seriously. We 
> need to know that the work we are doing is valuable enough for 
> people to pay us. 
> 
> As strange as it sounds, I want the board to be able to fire me. 
> Organizations are usually more effective than individuals. I want 
> the CSL to be an organization. We can't be an organization if we 
> are dependent on a single individual, even me. Right now, the 
> board can't fire me without destroying the organization because 
> they can't find somebody willing to work for my low wage. This 
> situation needs to change. 
> 
> I want to be lead this work in Lowell for the next 20 years. 
> However, I want to be leader because I am the best choice, not 
> the only choice. 
> 
> I believe non-profits are generally rational and motivated to use 
> their resources to accomplish their mission. There is a lot of 
> need for desktop support. Commercial offerings are expensive and 
> of uneven quality. Money is not the only measure of worth, but if 
> our services are of higher quality and lower cost that the 
> alternatives, then we will make enough money to pay a substancial 
> part of an ED's salary. 
> 
> In 2007, I was paid $14,000 directly for my work at the CSL. This 
> was a considerable improvement from $0 in 2006. Our current goal 
> is to make the money to increase my salary by $3,000 per year 
> until it is $40,000. We propose to do this by increasing our 
> overall revenues to $200,000 per year by 2015. A growth rate of 
> 20% per year is conservative. Our 2006/07 revenues were $40,000, 
> approximately 4 times our 2005/06 revenues. We project our 
> 2007/2008 revenues to be approximately _ times our 2006/07 revenues. 
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