Children’s Legacy Center Part 5: Big Executive Compensation

Written by Chriss W. Street

Mountain Top Times has learned that Children’sLegacy Center from 2018-2022 increased CEO Kimberly Johnson’s executive compensation by 1,000% to $191,270.  CLC did not file its 2023 IRS Form 990 financial disclosure, but the Mountain Top Times believes according to the pattern of pay increases below, CEO Johnson got another big pay increases in 2023.

Children’s Legacy Center, aka Arch Collaborative

CEO Kimberly Johnson Annual Compensation

2022- $191,270

2021- ​​​​​​​​​​​$161,627

2020​​​​​​​​​​​- $114,355

2019​​​​​​​​​​​- $ 68,304

2018- ​​​​​​​​​​​$ 19,200

_________________________________________________________________

Total ​​​​​​​​​​$554,756

Children’s Legacy Center current Mission Statement is very admirable:

“We have a vision for a community in which the power of collaborative relationships ensures that every child feels supported, known, and cherished by the individuals in their life and their community as a whole. A place where empowered advocates help ensure the legacy of the next generation, and, in turn, the children around us have access to the hope and healing they need to thrive.”

Children’s Legacy Center was started locally to assemble all the services in one place to confidentiallyrespond to the medical, legal and mental health trauma of youth victimized by rape, molestation, and sex trafficking.  There are dedicated CLC staff that continue to heroically pursue that mission.

The Children’s Legacy Center continues to advertise how they serve “The Children” around us, but that mission has expanded since 2018 to focus on importinghundreds of the most highly traumatized and potentially very violent youth from 25 northern counties to Shasta County.

This regional mission creep was rewarded with over $11 million in State of California grants and $7 millionin cash from the Zogg Fire settlement.

As the Mountain Top Times reported in Children’s Legacy Center: Part 4, this mission creep allowed the administrative overhead cost burden to hit 36 cents of each dollar donated to the Children’s Legacy Center.  That is dramatically higher than the more reasonable 18 cents of every dollar donated to One Safe Place that goes to pay for administrative costs, and the outstandingly low 8.5 cents of every dollar donated to the Good News Rescue Mission that goes to pay for administrative overhead costs.

Key to getting a much larger percentage of donations into mission-specific spending on direct charitable services according to IRS Form 990 disclosures for 2023, is the fact that the highest paid administrator at One Safe Place Shasta was Director of Finance Phil Brooks that was paid $61,780, and the highest paid administrator at Good News Rescue Mission was Executive Director Jonathan Anderson that was paid $57,303.

Furthermore, it is unknown to donors and the public how much more CEO Kimberly Johnson was paid last year because the Children’s Legacy Center did not file its IRS Form 990 for 2023 by the May 15, 2024 due date.  

The Mountain Top Times reached out to CEO Kimberly Johnson and Treasurer Erin Resner to ask why the Children’s Legacy Center 2023 IRS Form 990,that would have disclosed compensation, was not timely filed.

Director of Finance Michelle Robinson at ARCH Collaborative, new Children’s Legacy Center name), replied the charity took a 6-month extension because:

“Tax preparers commonly file extensions for their lower risk clients to balance the preparers' workload over the course of the year.”

The Mountain Top Times replied:

“Thank you for your timely response.  Several Mountaintop Times sources have stated that there were substantial reportable administrative compensation increases for Officers, Directors, Key Employees and Highest Compensated Employees that would have been disclosed in the Children’s Legacy Center, aka Arch Collaborative, IRS Form 990 for the 2023 reporting year, if filed by May 15, 2024.

In the interest of full disclosure, is the Children’s Legacy Center, aka Arch Collaborative, willing to immediately release the disclosure of IRS Form 990 for 2023, “Section VII: Compensation of Officers, Directors, Key Employees and Highest Compensated Employees”?

The Mountain Top Times will immediately update this reporting with all Children’s Legacy Center, aka Arch Collaborative responses.