GLAAD CEO Accused of Lavish Spending, Violating IRS Rules

metroweekly.com:

The New York Times accused the GLAAD president and CEO of engaging in a pattern of lavish spending, including having the nonprofit pay for the renovation of her home office.According to the Times, which analyzed months of the LGBTQ media advocacy organization’s expense reports from January 2022 to June 2023, Ellis allegedly racked up charges for first-class flights, expensive black car services, stays at luxury hotels, a ski day that was part of a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a Provincetown summer rental, and nearly $18,000 in renovations to her home office, which was outfitted with a chandelier and other ornate accouterments.That spending was on top of Ellis’s salary, which began at $441,000 following the renegotiation of a five-year employment contract in 2022, with automatic 5 percent increases each year.The Times claims that as part of that final employment agreement, Ellis earned a $150,000 signing bonus, additional payments of up to $300,000 per year tied to GLAAD’s fundraising efforts, and a discretionary annual bonus of up to 40% of her salary.

She is also slated to collect a “farewell appreciation bonus” of $225,000 in 2027 if she remains with the organization for the remainder of her contract.The Times also looked at employment agreements, tax filings, audit reports, other financial documents, and internal communications and spoke with “current and former employees and others with knowledge of GLAAD’s operations.”Michael West, a lawyer who advises charities at the New York Council of Nonprofits, told the Times that the pattern of spending revealed by its investigation could be viewed as “a potentially abusive use of charitable funds that would be surprising and insulting to a lot of.