Note, dear readers, I don’t want to be mean here – for several good reasons.
But was anybody else curious how the private nonprofit Jefferson Foundation – which has awarded 1,220 grants to local nonprofits over the last eight years for a total, so far, of about $54.7 million – came to hire a board member’s son as its president and chief executive officer?
I can only speculate about the new CEO’s level of pay, noting that the two previous guys who held the job were paid in the neighborhood of $200,000. The foundation, citing board policy, will not disclose the new hire’s salary now, preferring to wait until it is made public through the IRS.
I expect to wait a year or more for the answer, because nonprofit financial information for 2021 is not yet available, and the deadline for nonprofits to file financial information for 2022 is May 2023 – or later, if an extension is sought and granted.
A March 24 story by Leader staffer Tony Krausz announced the Jan. 1 hire of Michael Ravenscraft, 39, to lead the foundation. Ravenscraft lives in Kirkwood now, but was born and raised in Festus, graduating from Festus High School some years back.
Since 2014, he had served as CEO of the nonprofit Office of Job Training Programs of Jefferson-Franklin Counties, located in Arnold.
Ravenscraft is the son of Ron Ravenscraft, who had been chairman of the Jefferson Foundation’s board since the agency’s inception in 2013. He stepped down from the chairmanship late last year, when Michael was under consideration for the top job, but remained on the nine-member board.
The foundation was created to distribute grants to local nonprofits and government agencies, funded by proceeds from the 2013 merger of Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Crystal City with Mercy.
These grants have been of astounding benefit to the community, touching thousands of lives, and poised to continue in perpetuity. That’s because the foundation is using investment funds to award grants, while continually building the original $153 million nest egg.
This all makes a journalist want to be nice.
Another point in favor of civility is the very civil response the Leader got when asking questions about the leadership changes.
Krausz asked all the questions he could think of for his story, and so did I when I followed up before writing this column. Our queries were answered, except, of course, for the one noted above.
New board chairman Dr. Jeffrey Draves, a local family practitioner, told me the older Ravenscraft recused himself from all discussions about Michael and abstained from the vote on his hire.
Draves also went into detail about how Michael Ravenscraft was selected.
He said the seed was planted in 2017, after original CEO Jeff Buck announced his desire to retire.
The foundation board sifted through 200 nationwide applications to hire Juan Figueroa of Connecticut, who had 10 years of experience with a smaller, but similar, foundation.
Michael Ravenscraft was among the 199 who didn’t get the job, but he made the short list of finalists.
Figueroa, who told the Leader he was being paid a salary of $195,000, resigned after 20 months, and Buck came out of retirement to head the foundation again.
But last year, Buck, now 70, said it really was time to retire, although he would serve as a volunteer on the board.
Draves said the board opted against another search and re-engaged with young Ravenscraft.
He had been a strong candidate before but didn’t get the job because some board members thought he lacked experience. The intervening years provided more of that, Draves said. In addition, he had a strong background in finance. A local upbringing was a plus.
Draves acknowledged that the vote to hire Ravenscraft was not unanimous. One board member believed another search should have been conducted and voted against the majority.
“It was nothing against Michael,” Draves said. “He (the board member) just thought we should have opened it up and asked for applications again.”
But Draves said he believed Ravenscraft was the best candidate and the board felt his name should not be held against him.
The foundation is a private organization and Draves had no legal obligation to provide all that context. So, I respect his openness.
I also respect the board’s desire to stay local this time. The Leader loves to hire that way, too. Products of the local community are apt to invest more of their heart in a local job than someone who has roots elsewhere.
I can testify to Michael’s long local history.
When he was in pre-kindergarten, his parents often took him to play at the Festus R-6 school track. We lived nearby and we did the same thing with our own pre-K little boy.
Naturally, the kiddos, both with reddish hair, found each other and happily played together. It’s a nostalgic memory I’ve never let go of.
I’d been a reporter for a while back then, but I didn’t figure out that someday far distant I’d be asking the red-haired kid who didn’t belong to me, “So, how much are they paying you?”
In 2022, Michael declined to say, as did Draves, both noting that the foundation has a standing policy of not disclosing salaries. They didn’t want to overturn a precedent. “It will be disclosed through the filings (to the IRS),” Michael Ravenscraft pointed out.
And here’s my point: Answering that question today is way better than answering it someday, especially with the family connection that exists here.
Almost transparent is not nearly as good as fully transparent.
A community fundraising drive helped create Jefferson Memorial Hospital, the ancestor of today’s Mercy Jefferson Hospital. Thus, the foundation’s origins are public, not private.
I can’t come up with a good reason to delay telling people how much the foundation is paying its administrative staff.
Doing so just creates unnecessary suspicion into the motives of good people who are doing good things.
