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Post by mtnme on Feb 19, 2014 13:46:00 GMT -8
What I find most offensive is the USOC cutting funding while claiming that their own fundraising efforts have not decreased. So where is the money going? As always, not to the athletes. Bet that top 18-20 USOC magnates didn't decrease their 6 figure incomes, in fact, I'll bet they gave themselves a big, hefty raise at the same time they cut funding for the skaters. And then they all have the gall to wonder why our skaters, both long and short track, are having a rough time. Our athletes are fantastic, but after a certain point, they can't overcome the stupid that is USS or the USOC. It made me think of a few employers I've had. During the interview process, they make the company out to be something close to any fortune 500. You accept the job, walk through the door on your first day, and find that in actuality, they are a company that is sinking fast. And that YOU have been hired to somehow 'fix' it for them. Well, gee, I'm not the owner, I'm just an employee, and I can't fix stupid...no matter how hard I try. I can't fix bad business practices that said company is insisting on clinging to, and since I have no say in company policy (especially since nothing I have to say as an employee is respected anyway) thus, I don't have the access, tools or the means to make a silk purse out of your sows ear. Yup, sounds EXACTLY what the skaters go through.Said company always implodes and goes down in flames...a scenario we can only DREAM of for USS. Please God. Oh please...Oh please...And maybe the lackluster performance in Sochi despite the stellar athletes we have, will be that final nail in their coffin. But I digress... What I REALLY came here to post about was this utter and complete travesty and slap in the face to our Olympic Athletes. This issue has come up several times over the years, but our do nothing politicians have either dragged their feet on it or ignored it entirely because there is nothing in it for them. (I realize they are supposed to be getting PAID for actually doing their JOBS, but like our US athletes, our altruistic view of what something is supposed to be and what reality is, are two very different things...) And on that note, a letter writing campaign to our elected officials is in order on this one. Stop taxing athletes we don't support for what little gains they do get by representing us at the Olympics. (It's like winning the HGTV dream home, only to find out, you couldn't even pay the taxes on it in your lifetime, let alone afford to live in it!) abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/02/should-us-olympians-pay-taxes-on-medals/#disqus_thread
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Post by gasp on Feb 19, 2014 21:00:51 GMT -8
As we continue to follow the money. The Rally Me accounts are assessed admin fess and other charges, and once again the athletes do have to pay income tax on these "donations". So please--go ahead and do a personal donation to the athletes instead.
Additionally RallyMe notes on their site that 20% of your maximum amount is raised in the first 5-10 days, and anything after that is "just extra"--my explanation not their's. They advise the participant to set a realistic goal so that the "real need" amount will be received in those first 5-10 days. It's nice to know USS believes $250,000 is "reasonable." With all the bad press thrown around in the last 18 months, I'm surprised $50K has even been collected. Should the team continue down the path of no medals this Olympiad, I'm pretty sure that $50,000 is it. Wonder if USS has to pay taxes on that?
When Colbert did this before Vancouver, we all knew why! The Deutsch Bank had gone belly up and there simply was no money for the athletes or the fat cats. The $250,000.00 goal was quickly met. I'm sure somewhere on this site the exact date was noted.
So I checked on Colbert a few moments ago. Here's the current donation info for USS not the ATHLETES: Goal $250,000.00 Amount raised: A little over $50,000.00
Personally, I don't think that "bit" with the men's ST team helped. A few of my co-workers are Colbert faithfuls. It was a 50/50 split decision on that being the best way to show case what most people consider Elite Athletes. Secretly we all want the Olympians to be "better" than the professionals on so many levels and many thought this was cringe-worthy. Wonder if that affected the donations? Wonder if anybody cares? Since the $$ is going to USS, I know I don't.
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Feb 20, 2014 22:31:43 GMT -8
Welcome back, gasp Are you sure about the taxable nature of these donations with regard to the skaters? Things could have changed since my CPA days (and admittedly, I haven't been paying attention to those rules), but I think that these donations are never taxable to the recipient - they are considered to be gifts. If an individual donor crosses a certain $$$ 'gift' threshold (I think it's currently around $14K in a calendar year from 1 individual to 1 other individual), the donation is actually taxable to the donor (sounds crazy, eh?) - but never taxable to the recipient. Of course, they aren't tax deductible to the contributor unless they're made to a tax-exempt organization such as *cough* USS or *cough* USOC... You are correct, though, that RallyMe and GoFundMe will take their 'cuts' of the proceeds, just as organizations like Paypal and EBay do - but at least the skaters know going in what that percentage will be, and it's pretty reasonable. If you want a skater to get 100% of your donation, I'll go back to our old mantra, "If you want to help a skater, write a check and give it to a skater"... (quoted from a skater, Bri, waaaay back in 2007 - a moment that in some ways changed our lives and direction as fans) That's easy to say for those who know how to FIND those skaters, but in the meantime - RallyMe and GoFundMe are far preferable to the *coughs* mentioned above! I'll end with the link to our list of skaters with GoFundMe/RallyMe, etc. pages (keep in mind that we don't yet know who in this group may be retiring after Sochi, so do your homework): www.therockerforum.proboards.com/thread/1264/crowdfunding-links-skaters?page=1&scrollTo=16783
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Feb 27, 2014 10:32:53 GMT -8
Interesting - USA ranked 5th in per-medal payout. Our overall $ total most certainly would have been higher if the Men's hockey team had medaled. I wonder if the high per-medal total for Russia is standard for them, or whether they 'upped the ante' for this particular host-country games. EDIT: It hadn't occurred to me that Korea's not on the list at all! I just read a comment from a Facebook friend that says their medalists get a lifetime stipend. Athlete Bonuses Paid by Top-10 Medal-Winning CountriesFebruary 2014 www.moneysideoflife.com/olympic-athlete-bonuses/TAGS: Sochi Olympics / Bonuses / Medalists / USOC
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gasp
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Post by gasp on Mar 26, 2014 8:08:37 GMT -8
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gasp
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Post by gasp on Mar 26, 2014 8:46:05 GMT -8
...so let me tease you into reading the article... We just thought the NGBs were the fund-drainers. Looks like they learned it from the top-most levels of USOC.
6) How about administrative expenses?
Administrative expenses cost about 12% of the total USOC expenses.
In 2012, 14 USOC executives took home over a quarter million dollars in compensation.
In other words, there were about a dozen USOC employees receiving over $1 million in compensation during the last quad alone, and that excludes any of the executive compensation within individual NGBs. (And remember that the USOC and the NGBs are considered charities.)
...and they get the primo seats at the Olympics, instead of the families.
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Mar 26, 2014 10:02:50 GMT -8
This is a very good article (but I wish the NGB part would have included the Winter Oly sports). The last line says it all: It just seems ethically questionable that this charity’s mission allows for the exploitation of athletes’ labors to create such considerable wealth for so many executives and administrators while leaving such a difficult financial path for the athletes themselves.BTW, there are lots of good sub-links within this article!
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Post by mtnme on Mar 26, 2014 11:03:51 GMT -8
...so let me tease you into reading the article... We just thought the NGBs were the fund-drainers. Looks like they learned it from the top-most levels of USOC. 6) How about administrative expenses? Administrative expenses cost about 12% of the total USOC expenses. In 2012, 14 USOC executives took home over a quarter million dollars in compensation.
In other words, there were about a dozen USOC employees receiving over $1 million in compensation during the last quad alone, and that excludes any of the executive compensation within individual NGBs. (And remember that the USOC and the NGBs are considered charities.)
...and they get the primo seats at the Olympics, instead of the families. The horrifying truth...not that we didn't intrinsically already know this. Apples don't fall that far from the tree, do they eh? USS has carried on business as usual just as the USOC does, which is why USS's constant parade of b.s. has been constantly overlooked - and now it appears it was secretly condoned . That's along with all the other NGB's, the ISU, the IOC, and any other supposed 'non profits' in sport who are generously sucking off the idealism of children and young adults to line their own pockets. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If war is old men sending young men to die, then the Olympics is old men making a boatload of money off of starving kids. It's truly shameful, and unfortunately, a systemic problem of our society in general, from politicians to corporations to the power elite. I'm so disgusted with this sociopath behavior that has become the norm in all parts of our society. Where in the world can you go these days where you're not completely surrounded by life, money and soul sucking a$$holes?
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gasp
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Post by gasp on Mar 26, 2014 11:44:40 GMT -8
(but I wish the NGB part would have included the Winter Oly sports).
I sent an email requesting that info. As soon as I have it hand, I will post it here.
And if you are of a mind to do so, ALL of the financial are within the sub links Lori refers to. However, that's not in my wheelhouse to decipher financial docs. Sorry.
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Post by Joyce on Mar 27, 2014 9:19:08 GMT -8
I have mentioned in previous postings that a knowledge of the history of the Olympics and the IOC would go a long way in alleviating any idealistic notions one has of these institutions. There are several books that managed to be published (The Selling of the Rings, Inside Politics of the Olys, books by Richard Pound) - both institutions were founded on concepts of greed and corruption. There was never any regard for the athletes. The head of Addidas in Germany was one of the first to recognize the great wealth that could be gleaned on the backs of amateur athletes, all at little risk and little expense on their part - and they have played a major role in the questionable culture of the Olympics as a business, and a business it is.
One of the other notable observations that one can read about, if there is a candidate in any sports NGB that exhibits total lack of judgment, aptitude, honesty, and ethics - that will be the person who would most likely get a position in the USOC/IOC and be advanced in his/her career.
The NCAA and all of this March Madness follow this same level of exploitation.
This is not to disparage all members of the Olys/USOC/IOC - but they are institutions where the core values are less than stellar.
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gasp
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Post by gasp on Mar 27, 2014 19:37:49 GMT -8
Thanks Joyce. Just added to my summer reading schedule!
Mention of this firm via my short track Google Alerts caught my attention. I haven't done much research on them, but I did "LIKE" their FB page, to see what is going on here!
Recent FB post at their site:
With the NLRB's regional decision in the Northwestern University football player's request to unionize, we are now seeing through the façade of the NCAA calling collegiate athletes "Student-Athletes" who are getting a free education in return for playing college sports. Pray tell, how many classes have the college basketball players missed over the past month or so while they are competing in various tournaments around the country? And how much money is the NCAA making off of those tournaments? This comes on the heels of a recent report that only 10.3% of money raised by the United States Olympic Committee is committed to direct athlete support of our Olympic athletes. Time for our amateur athletes to rise up and take a stand!
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gasp
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Post by gasp on Mar 27, 2014 19:46:02 GMT -8
Lori: Regarding the "taxable" nature of the Rally Me accounts.
There is probably a threshold of some sort, that must be reached before taxes are assessed. I have a friend who did this on a similar site, and they received an "income form" to report right along with their other taxable income.
I don't think the athletes could tie-in to USS/USOCs 501c status (or whatever their distinction is!) But I'm not a CPA or tax attorney, so who knows!
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gasp
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Post by gasp on Apr 1, 2014 9:56:33 GMT -8
Nathan Crumpton responded to my email regarding item #4 in his report. With his permission to share, here's the response:
The research in item #4 was conducted by the Athlete Advisory Council, and I'm not sure why they didn't include winter sports. But you're probably right - it would be just as disheartening to see it for winter sports. We did, however, do some recent research on the Foundations that the NGBs have - the philanthropic arms of the NGBs - and the results were just as disheartening: virtually none of the money went to Direct Athlete Support. We might be publishing those results soon, depending on whether the heads of US Athletic Trust want to make the information public.
Should we start contacting the US Athletic Trust for more information?
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Apr 1, 2014 10:08:13 GMT -8
I'd certainly be interested in seeing it if they do release the info - thanks for following up, gasp! Occasionally, those pesky things called 'thoughts' do darken the door of my brain, and I had one today ... As easy and straightforward as it is to donate directly to the skaters through crowdfunding avenues, I wonder if it gives NGB's a publicly plausible rationale to continue withholding direct support. After all, "they can get all the money they need through crowdfunding now", right? *rolling eyes* (WRONG, of course, but the skeptic in me tends to look at every boulder in the road ahead.)
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gasp
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Post by gasp on Apr 1, 2014 17:33:38 GMT -8
Good point Lori. When USS shared with the athletes to join Rally Me, it was through their concern for the need to fund athletes between the quads. USS very generously offered to help them set it up and in some fashion link it to USS with promises they would have no access to the accounts. Wonder why USS does not realize they have a credibility problem with the athletes? Maybe they are standing behind one of those Boulders, Lori!
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