One Spark Financials 2012-2013

[simms3]

Wow, interesting thread!

People leaving town until the dust settles?!?

IMO $256K is not an outrageous sum for salary/staff overhead (there are many non-profits where that is not even one person's base salary, if one can believe that!)

Likewise, the $500K for office expenses might have a lot of stuff buried in there that we don't know about, that should not have been classified as Office Expenses, or should have been footnoted.  How much of that actually went to winners' office expenses?  Perhaps OneSpark organization got enough office space/furniture etc to facilitate these start ups/winners?

In that case, you have to consider that there is "prize money" (i.e. non-discretionary or discretionary cash), but then there are also benefits.  Also consider that there is no reason for the leaders and employees of OneSpark, who are working full time for the organization, to be paid anything less than market, and that includes benefits.  501(c)3 doesn't imply "work for free", though eyebrows deserve to get raised when salaries and benefits escalate into the 1%er range.

Finally, consider where we'd be without all these evil OneSpark people getting paid and leasing office space.  The other option is traditional VC, which is not available really to the Jacksonville market and is MUCH MUCH more expensive!

[CityLife]

As the original post stated, the salaries of the ED and Operations Director are reasonable. The "compensation" to the President and Vice President do raise eyebrows, not because of how high they are, but because they may be for 15 hours of work a week. Simply founding a non-profit doesn't entitle one to a share of the money it brings in.

Given the amount of time volunteers have donated to One Spark, the amount of money donated to One Spark, and the significant in-kind services COJ has provided for the festival, I think the folks at One Spark have a responsibility to be transparent about their spending. I have a few hunches that nobody has really touched on in the thread, but don't want to post without facts. An independent audit of their books would be a good start.

Any CPA's out there willing to offer up an in-kind donation for a review of their books?

[AuditoreEnterprise]

Aren't a few of the founders and board members from One Spark also on paper as working with KYN? That is probably where the confusion is coming in if so. I may be wrong, but I think even Elton or Joe released the statement a while ago saying they were separate entities and the article went on to site said person as being a director and founder of KYN.

[zubbee]

Soon or later, the truth will come out for everyone to form an opinion as to the good or bad of OneSpark.  Too bad you cannot see how much some big-time church pastors are paid ... they hide behind the veil of religion and are not required to file 990 forms.

[CityLife]

Some people appear to be a little too focused in on the salary/compensation aspect of the financials. Definitely not the biggest question mark....

[AuditoreEnterprise]

I am fairly certain he sees all the feedback on the various media outlets. A majority of posters in the various comment sections are saying he should be replaced or step down. The real question is what will he or the rest of the board members at one spark do? This whole situation is pretty shady looking so hopefully it all gets cleared up soon.

[BoldCityRealist]

Haven't read through the thread - but I work in advertising and the $250k for marketing seems reasonable - especially if that includes media placement. Those banners at bus stops and on streetlamps are quite expensive to produce and place. However, the salaries for Rivas and Eusebio seem a little over-the-top... especially for 15hrs of work a week, especially not including their KYN salaries. All those Berlin trips are pretty expensive though.

Now to be fair, they are working much more than 40 hours per week. They work 24/7 - the startup world isn't like the typical 9-5.

But I know a lot of people who work 80-90hrs per week and don't make over six figures or eat at nice restaurants all the time or globe trot. Oh and the income they *do* earn isn't from donations or big checks written by millionaires/billionaires. So there's that.

[TheCat]

Haven't read through the thread - but I work in advertising and the $250k for marketing seems reasonable - especially if that includes media placement. Those banners at bus stops and on streetlamps are quite expensive to produce and place. However, the salaries for Rivas and Eusebio seem a little over-the-top... especially for 15hrs of work a week, especially not including their KYN salaries. All those Berlin trips are pretty expensive though.

Now to be fair, they are working much more than 40 hours per week. They work 24/7 - the startup world isn't like the typical 9-5.

But I know a lot of people who work 80-90hrs per week and don't make over six figures or eat at nice restaurants all the time or globe trot. Oh and the income they *do* earn isn't from donations or big checks written by millionaires/billionaires. So there's that.

JTA may have been an in-kind sponsor. So, it's very possible that the ads on the JTA system weren't a direct one spark expense.

[tufsu1]

^ true, but they may have had to show it on financials anyway.  I know that we listed all in-kind sponsorships and expenses in the budget for the conference I recently chaired.

[Gunnar]

Haven't read through the thread - but I work in advertising and the $250k for marketing seems reasonable - especially if that includes media placement. Those banners at bus stops and on streetlamps are quite expensive to produce and place. However, the salaries for Rivas and Eusebio seem a little over-the-top... especially for 15hrs of work a week, especially not including their KYN salaries. All those Berlin trips are pretty expensive though.

Now to be fair, they are working much more than 40 hours per week. They work 24/7 - the startup world isn't like the typical 9-5.

But I know a lot of people who work 80-90hrs per week and don't make over six figures or eat at nice restaurants all the time or globe trot. Oh and the income they *do* earn isn't from donations or big checks written by millionaires/billionaires. So there's that.

The question isn't really how many hours they work (or what they are paid), but what the return for the money spent is.

So you have President & Vice President, a Director for Finances & Operations and an Executive Director and then you have a 990 form that is mostly "Misc" (i.e. neither detailed nor transparent) and if I understand the last page correctly they even needed to file for an extension.

It would be interesting to see what their books look like.

Paying market rate is perfectly fine if the performance is up to market standards.

Another thing that irks me: Most of the criticism seems to be focused on one person but it's really everyone's job in management to check numbers and processes. The top brass have the highest responsibility but looking at the 990 form I would say there are at least four.