America's Largest LGBT Organization Spends Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Donations on Luxury

GLAAD, a leading non-profit organization for LGBTQ rights in the United States, spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on the personal expenses of its president, Sarah Kate Ellis. She stays in luxury hotels and flies business class on donor money, The New York Times reports .

Journalists learned that Ellis spends money on her trips from the GLAAD budget, which is about $30 million per year. Thus, the organization paid for a trip to the Swiss Alps in January 2023 with this money. Then Ellis and her colleagues stayed in a luxurious chalet Tivoli Lodge with seven bedrooms. Renting such a hotel for a week cost almost half a million dollars. Before that, Ellis was in Zurich. She was driven around the city in a luxury Mercedes.

The organization paid for a trip to Switzerland and one day of skiing. On business trips, Ellis flies first class, rents expensive cars and stays in luxury hotels, NYT journalists learned. For example, in California, Ellis stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, where she paid $1,861 per night. This is contrary to GLAAD's internal rules, according to which employees must fly only economy class and use public transportation.

GLAAD spokesman Richard Ferraro said Ellis later reimbursed the company for the Alpine trip. The organization also changed its travel policy to allow executives to upgrade their flights "under certain circumstances." The GLAAD chief's trip complied with the updated policy, he said.

The behavior of the head of GLAAD may violate not only the organization's policies, but also the rules of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The fact is that lavish spending is inappropriate for a nonprofit with 60 employees. Such companies are exempt from certain taxes and in exchange guarantee that their leaders will receive a reasonable salary and their policies will be consistent with the charitable mission. Journalists were unable to determine Ellis's exact salary, but assumed that it could reach seven figures in dollars.

GLAAD's main donors include some pretty big companies: Netflix, Google, and the Walt Disney Company. The organization is also sponsored by the New York City Council. In 2022, billionaire and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott, donated $10 million to the organization. GLAAD is also supported by American philanthropist and entrepreneur Ariadne Getty.

GLAAD — the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation — was founded in 1985. At the beginning of its history, the organization fought against homophobia and the spread of misinformation about LGBT in the media. The organization paid special attention to HIV and AIDS issues. Since 1990, the NGO has organized the GLAAD Media Awards, which honor outstanding representatives of the LGBT community.

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