Thaindian News

Mar 15 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A group of Republican Senators, which includes Senator Chuck Grassley, has recently questioned the way a well-known organization has been using the charity funds it receives. The non-profit group, “Boys and Girl Clubs of America” has been issued tens of millions of dollars a year by the United States government, yet they are having to close some of the clubs due to lack of funds.

Now the Republican senators, in their validated questions, want to know why the CEO of a non-profit, government funded organization is getting paid a million dollars a year, and travel perks while the charity is obviously suffering financially. The senators are especially concerned over the the fact that a million dollars in compensation was received by the chief executive officer, Roxanne Spillett in 2008, while in that same year, Ms. Spillet was closing down clubs because they did not have enough money to keep them going. And apparently that isn’t all the money they spent that year. The tax papers from the charity’s filing for that year shows 4.3 million dollars spent on travel, 1.6 million dollars spent on conferences and meetings, and 544,000 dollars were spent on lobbying fees.

The Boys and Girls Club of America is one of the largest charities in the country. A bill was moving through the house to grant the organization another 425 million dollars. The charity received a letter which asked questions about the millions of dollars they spend a year, and at that time the compensations given to the executives of the organization were brought to light. There are about 4300 local Boys and Girls Clubs, which provide for 4.8 million kids. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said “The question is whether or not a very top-heavy organization might be siphoning off federal dollars that should be going to help kids.”