The Kennedy Center, under scrutiny for receiving over $40 million in recent congressional funding packages, has over $ 661 million in assets and has been paying its executives high seven-figure and six-figure salaries as of 2019.
The outrage at the Kennedy Center’s stimulus gains stems from its receipt of $40,400,000 to be used for “operations and maintenance” and “repair and restoration” in the second stimulus package, as well as $25,000,000 in the first. This, despite the Center remaining closed.
Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center appears to be in no financial need of stimulus funds, which are ostensibly meant to aid American workers and families struggling from the impacts of COVID-19.
The center’s latest tax filings from 2019 show that it retains $661,370,760 in total assets, with liabilities of just $159,712,775. In the same year, a total of $113,112,179 was doled out to “salaries, other compensation, and employee benefits.”
The center’s primary source of revenue is donations from wealthy benefactors, as $206,224,574 of its total revenue of $326,464,245 was itemized as “contributions and grants.” That’s over 63 percent.
Its second-highest source of revenue, which is most likely to be impacted by COVID-19, is its “programs”, which account for just 33% of its total revenue.
The center’s executives and employees have raked in six-figure salaries, including Executive Director Gary Ginstling, who profited $446,307 in reportable compensation and an additional $29,539 in “estimated” compensation, and Senior Vice President of Artistic Planning Robert Van Leer, who made $332,077 in salary and an additional $34,438 in “estimated” compensation.
Furthermore, President Deborah Rutter received a salary of $1,255,901, with an additional $34,438 reported in 2019.
Filings from previous years show similar finances and salaries.
In 2018, contributions and grants accounted for nearly 46 percent of total revenue, underpinning the center’s $556,989,780 in assets. In 2017, the center generated over half of its revenue from contributions and grants, with total assets valued at $502,844,759.
Explain this to me. pic.twitter.com/Ne5D2NDH5c
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) December 23, 2020
Similarly, high six-figure salaries were reported both years, including a seven-figure salary for the center’s president in 2018.
