That’s how much the heads of Swiss aid organizations earn

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The Swiss Red Cross rumbles. The reason is the departure of the deposed director Markus Mader (59), about whom Blick reported on Tuesday. His previous salary of about CHF 250,000 per year plus expenses also caused outrage among Blick readers. “That’s exactly why I don’t donate anywhere anymore,” writes one angry user.

Although aid agency heads and NGO directors often manage huge budgets and are responsible for thousands of employees and projects, aid organizations are mainly funded by donations. People who donate money to an organization want to help people in need, the environment or endangered animals – not fund high executive salaries.

But not only the Red Cross pays well. Blick shows how much the heads of the largest aid organizations and NGOs in Switzerland earn – based on their statements or annual reports.

The CEO of the nature and animal protection organization, Thomas Vellacott (51), earned a total of CHF 180,000 gross in 2017. “My salary has not changed since I started and is significantly lower than what I earned as a project manager in the private sector,” he told “Bilanz” newspaper at the time.

The aid organization of the Swiss Evangelical Church (HEKS) is somewhat more moderate. It paid its director Peter Merz (59) a salary of 156,674 francs in 2021. Merz leaves the aid organization at the end of October after more than 14 years. The reason for this is the merger with the aid organization Brood voor Allen.

In 2021, Caritas paid its six executive board members a salary of CHF 991,640, including social benefits and company child allowance (which had a total value of CHF 8,640). No further details can be found in the financial report. In 2017, the manager received a salary of 213,000 francs, as reported by the “Aargauer Zeitung”.

Of all the major aid organizations, the Salvation Army is the most frugal with top management salaries. The total gross salary for the seven members of management in 2021 was CHF 673,000. This results in a salary of just over 96,000 francs per person per year.

There is significantly more to long league management. The health organization pays its four managers 742,333 francs annually. Salaries per person are almost twice that of the Salvation Army – a whopping CHF 185,000.

The bosses of Swiss Solidarity are doing just as well. The gross annual salary of the then director Roland Thomann (47) amounted to exactly 184,166 francs in 2021, the salaries of the other board members – a total of 2.7 full-time positions – totaled 422,016 francs.

Franziska Lauper, the manager of Terre des Hommes Switzerland, earned 100,550 francs in 2018 for an 80 percent workload, the aid organization said. At 100 percent, this would result in a salary of at least 125,690 francs.

According to the Helvetas financial report, the six members of the board of directors received a salary of CHF 1,162,000 in 2021, including a flat-rate expense allowance. Assuming everyone earns the same amount, that equates to an annual salary of almost CHF 194,000.

MSF pays their CEO Amy Neumann-Volmer (66) an annual salary of CHF 169,000. There is another 1000 francs more a year for the general manager, Stephen Cornish. In total, all members of the Board of Directors together receive CHF 1,313,000 annually.

Source:Blick