Executive Compensation at the Boy Scouts (2021)

The Boy Scouts of America (Boy Scouts) is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization headquartered in Irving, Texas.  As one of the largest youth organizations in the US, the Boy Scouts has gone through some tough times the past few years with allegations of child sexual abuse by former scouts, scoutmasters and other leaders that triggered a bankruptcy filing in 2020. With a recent settlement of $2.4 billion (to be established in a trust) for the thousands of sexual abuse victims (estimated to be 80,000), the Boy Scouts has experienced significant financial changes over the past few years.

The Boy Scouts has 73 independent voting members (board members) of the governing body (National Executive Board) although 75 are listed on the Form 990 (due to timing differences), 67 (89%) of whom are male while 8 (11%) are female (note: The Form 990 does not report gender; determinations were made based on name and google searches).

The most recent Form 990 (2021) reports the following key financial information about the Boy Scouts:

Total revenue was $271 million (compared to $275 million in 2020, $409 million in 2019 and $285 million in 2018), most of which came from seminars, training, conferences, and other program services ($101 million), membership dues ($84 million), investment income, gains, royalties, and inventory sales ($45 million) and local council assessments ($24 million).

Expenses totaled $359 million (not including $7 million in depreciation) with $243 million (89% of revenue) used for insurance, insurance claims, and bankruptcy expenses.  Compensation was the next highest expense at  $58 million (compared to $65 million in 2020 and $79 million in 2019).

3,422 employees received $58 million in compensation (compared to 2,506 employees having receiving $65 million in compensation in 2020 and 4,026 employees having received $79 million in compensation in 2019) which equates to an average compensation of $17,000. 134 employees received more than $100,000 in compensation (compared to 178 employees in 2020 and 216 in 2019) with the 15 most highly compensated reported to be:

• $550,356:  Patrick Sterrett, EVP, High Adv Base
• $521,158:  Roger C Mosby, President and CEO
• $462,650:  Michael A Ashiline, Treasurer and CFO
• $455,603:  Steven McGowan, Secretary and General Counsel
• $417,914:  Lisa Shorb, EVP, Administration
• $371,988:  John Mosby, EVP, Chief Youth Dev Officer
• $362,293:  Jeffrey Hunt, VP, Reg CNCL Ops
• $362,148:  Shane Calendine, VP, Reg CNCL Ops
• $355,244:  Mark Winkelmann, SVP, Supply
• $337,297:  Faisal Rajani, SVP, Chief Investment Officer
• $332,744:  Vijay Challa, SVP, Information Technology
• $315,680:  Lisa Young, SVP, Human Resources
• $308,721:  Joseph Zirkman, Asst Secretary and Deputy General Counsel
• $298,939:  Chasity McReynolds, EVP, Development
• $226,823:  Frederick Wallace, VP, Reg CNCL Ops

The 15 most highly compensated employees received $6 million in compensation. 12 of the 15 (75%) of the most highly compensated employees are male while 3 of the 15 (15%) are female.

The Boy Scouts  made gross up payments or tax indemnifications.  For more detail, see the Form 990, Schedule J, Part III, Supplemental Information.

Fred Wallace retired in 2021; compensation includes “change of control payment (unused PTO and severance)” of $145,183.

51 independent contractors received more than $100,000 in compensation with the 5 highest reported to be:

• $22.1 million:  White and Case, of NY, NY for legal work
• $ 6.7  million:  Alvarez Marsal Holdings, LLC, of NY, NY for legal work
• $ 7.5 million:  Pachulski Stang Ziehl and Jones, of Los Angeles, CA for legal work
• $ 4.6 million:  Bates White, of Washington, DC for legal work
• $ 3.4 million:  Haynes and Boone, of Dallas, TX for legal work

It is important to note that the Boy Scouts reported total legal fees were less than $80,000 on the Form 990, Part IX, Statement of Functional Expenses 11b although the above disclosure on the Form 990, Part VII, Section B Independent Contractors reports the legal fees were more than $44 million just to 5 independent contractors. Legal fees also appear to be classified as “bankruptcy expenses” and “insurance claims.”

To read the IRS Form 990 (2021), click here.