Executive Compensation at the Horatio Alger Association (2022)

The Horatio Alger Association (HAA) is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501 (c) 3, HAA is based in Alexandria, Virginia.  The organization is overseen by 78 independent voting members (board members) of the governing body.  72 of the 78 board members (92%) are male while 6 of the 78 members (8%) are female.

HAA was named for the gilded age writer, Horatio Alger who wrote about impoverished boys who rose from their humble backgrounds through education and good works to higher echelons of society.  Consequently HAA awards need based scholarships and honors the achievements of those who have overcome adversity and obtained personal achievement and success throw perseverance.  At the heart of HAA is the firm belief in achieving the “American Dream” through the free-enterprise system.  Consequently, grants has historically been the largest expense for the organization (65% of revenue raised in 2021 was awarded in grants but only 11% for $2.4 million was awarded in grants in 2022).

In 2022, HAA reported total revenue of $22 million while expenses totaled $27 million with the largest expense reported to be audio visual and multimedia, advertising, and taxes ($7.9 million) and travel and conferences ($7.3 million) followed by compensation ($4.5 million).

14 employees received $4.5 million in compensation, which equates to an average of $320,000 each.  However, there appears to be an error on the Form 990 because the compensation of the Executive Director, Terrence Giroux is reported to be $5.2 million in 2022.

7 employees received more than $100,000 in compensation in 2022:

• $5,164,528:  Terrence J Giroux, Executive Director
• $  301,191:  Constantine G Katsaraskas, Director, Strategic Initiative
• $  274,482:  John B Thornburg, CFO
• $  245,216:  Kristin R Law, Director, Educational
• $  230,726:  Margaret Slipek, Manager, Editorial Services
• $  164,652:   Debra J Stancil, Manager of Nominations
• $  148,653:  W Aaron House, Asst Director of Scholar and Alumni Services

The 7 most highly compensated employees received $6.5 million in compensation – $2 million more than total compensation reported on the Form 990 (plus the compensation of the other 7 employees.  The most highly compensated employee was Terrence J Giroux, the Executive Director who received $5.2 million in compensation in 2022.  Mr Giroux received $14 million in compensation from 2017-2022:

• 2022:  $5,164,528
• 2021:  $1,348,080
• 2020:  $1,270,209
• 2019:  $1,229,069
• 2018:  $1,185,041
• 2017:  $3,503,777

42 independent contractors received more than $100,000 in compensation with the five (5) most highly compensated reported to be:

• $1,410,195:  Linder & Associates, of Washington, DC for event management
• $  855,719:  Design Foundry, of Landover, MD for equipment rental and storage
• $  767,521:  Todo Productions, of NY, NY for executive event production and management
• $  670,360:  Associated Protective Service, of Nashville, TN for security, medical personnel
• $ 480,840:  The Red Bank Film Company, of Red Bank, NJ for production, scripting, and research

To read the IRS Form 990 (2022), click here.