Susan G. Komen Donors, Once Again, Exploited

by Gary Snyder

After running the agency into chaos, we now have found out who and why she did not respond to demands for her to step down.

Nancy Brinker, the founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, was paid quite a pretty penny last year. She received a whopping 64 percent raise, bringing her salary to $684,717 for fiscal year 2012. That amounts to an hourly rate of roughly $240.

Her raise was upped even in the face of declining contributions, decreasing grants and increased fundraising expenses. 

Last year, Komen was cast in a harsh light after revelations that it spent only 15 percent of its donations on research and nixed funding for breast-cancer screenings and services for Planned Parenthood. 

As a result, multiple separations resulted amounted to severance payment exceeding more than a million of dollars of donors funds. Among those leaving was Komen’s chief financial officer and president. 

Her raise was a slam dunk because all members of the board sit there with the imprimatur and good grace of Brinker.  From her perch she has ruled the organization with an iron fist.

Brinker, who founded the organization in memory of her sister, relinquished her title of CEO and said her new role will be chairwoman of the executive committee. The difference is indistinguishable. 


Nonprofit Imperative gathers its information principally from public documents...some of which are directly quoted. Virtually all cited are in some phase of criminal proceedings; some have not been charged, however. Cites in various media: Featured in print, broadcast, and online media outlets, including: Vermont Public Radio, Miami Herald, National Public Radio, Huffington Post, The Sun News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Wall Street Journal (Profile, News and Photos), FOX2, ABC Spotlight on the News, WWJ Radio, Ethics World, Aspen Philanthropy Newsletter, Harvard Business Review, Current Affairs, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, St. Petersburg Times, B, USA Today Topics, Newsweek.com, Responsive Philanthropy Magazine, New York Times...and many more Nonprofits: On the Brink (2006) Silence: The Impending Threat to the Charitable Sector (2011)