Executive Compensation at the Horatio Alger Association (2023)

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 75 independent voting members (board members) of the governing body.  69 of the 75 board members (92%) are male while 6 of the 75 members (8%) are female.

At the heart of HAA is the firm belief in achieving the “American Dream” through the free-enterprise system.  So, the purpose of this organization appears to be the awarding of grants (but surprisingly only $8.7 million or about 28% of total revenue was awarded in grants in 2023 (which was better than the previous year when $2.4 million was awarded in grants), while the Executive Director, Terrence Giroux received $1.5 million in compensation in 2023 (compared to $5.2 million in 2022).

In 2023, HAA reported total revenue of $31 million while expenses totaled $30 million with the largest expense reported to be grants ($8.7 million) followed by travel and conferences ($6.5 million), advertising, promotion and other expenses ($5.8 million), fees for outside services ($3.9 million), compensation ($3.2 million) and office-related expenses ($1.6 million).

14 employees received $3.2 million in compensation, which equates to an average of $230,000 each.  However, there appears to be an error on the Form 990: 7 employees received $3.1 million in compensation (see the Form 990, Schedule J, Part II) so the remaining 7 employees received $100,000 collectively (or a average of $14,000 each).  

The seven (7) highly compensated  employees received in 2023 were reported to be:

• $1,491,679:  Terrence J Giroux, Executive Director
• $  414,530:  Constantine G Katsaraskas, Director, Strategic Initiative
• $  296,782:  John B Thornburg, CFO
• $  277,394:  Kristin R Law, Director, Educational
• $  271,890:  Margaret Slipek, Manager, Editorial Services
• $  179,249:  W Aaron House, Asst Director of Scholar and Alumni Services
• $  170,797:   Debra J Stancil, Manager of Nominations

The 7 most highly compensated employees received $3.1 million in compensation, which means the other seven (7) employees received $100,000 or an average of $14,000 each, which seems to be an error.  The most highly compensated employee was Terrence J Giroux, the Executive Director who received $1.5 million in compensation in 2023.  Mr Giroux received $15 million in compensation from 2017-2023:

• 2023:  $1,491,679
• 2022:  $5,164,528
• 2021:  $1,348,080
• 2020:  $1,270,209
• 2019:  $1,229,069
• 2018:  $1,185,041
• 2017:  $3,503,777

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

• $1,429,746:  Linder & Associates, of Washington, DC for event management
• $  886,412  :  Design Foundry, of Landover, MD for equipment rental and storage
• $  796,468:  Todo Productions, of NY, NY for executive event production and management
• $  723,461:  Theatrical Resources, of Los Angeles, CA for event management and productions
• $  498,992:  Willis Towers Watson US LLC, of Boston, MA for executive director search

To read the IRS Form 990 (2023), click here.