Promoting and protecting nonprofit advocacy for a stronger democracy

Monday, August 29, 2005

Megachuch Nonprofit Leader Makes Mega-Bucks, Says Grassley

Long maintains the money came from royalties, speaking fees and several large donations - not from members of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, where he became pastor in 1987. The charity stopped operating in 2000.

During his 18-year tenure, New Birth has swelled from 300 members to 25,000. Long told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he heads an international corporation, not just a church.

"You've got to put me on a different scale than the little black preacher sitting over there that's supposed to be just getting by because the people are suffering," he said.

Long's charity and his church were separate organizations, and his charity was incorporated as a nonprofit religious corporation - not a church. He and his wife, Vanessa, were two of the charity's four board members.

The charity, which Long incorporated in New York in 1995, made $3.1 million in donations to others between 1997 and 2000, according to tax records - compared to at least $3.07 million paid to Long during the same period.

Nonprofits are exempt from paying state and federal income taxes if they meet certain criteria, but executives' benefits may not be excessive according to federal law.

Churches must report to the IRS how much they pay employees, but those records are not public. The charity's tax returns are public record.

"I'm worried that a few people are confusing the ringing of a church bell with the ringing of a cash register," Grassley said in a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "When I hear about leaders of charities being provided a $300,000 Bentley to drive around in, my fear is that it's the taxpayers who subsidize this charity who are really being taken for a ride."