Several inaccurate emails and social media posts have been circulating about the salaries of large charity CEOs, with a frequent uptick in activity during the holiday season. These emails and posts contain inaccurate information about the compensation of the president and CEO of the American Red Cross, and in fact are even wrong about the name of the Red Cross CEO; mistakenly referring to Marty J. Evans even though she left the Red Cross many years ago.

For the past 11 years, Gail McGovern has served as president and CEO of the American Red Cross, and in 2018, she was paid $694,000, which reflects her leadership of the country’s largest humanitarian organization. McGovern is responsible for the delivery of all the lifesaving services of the Red Cross, which each year provides shelter, food and comfort to victims of more than 60,000 disasters, supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood, teaches skills that save lives and supports our nation’s military members, veterans and their families. No portion of the compensation paid to McGovern comes from contributions by the public to help people affected by disasters.

The Red Cross is proud to have earned the highest ratings for accountability and transparency from independent nonprofit watchdogs like Charity Navigator and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. In fact, an average of 90 cents of every dollar we spend is invested in delivering care and comfort to those in need. The remaining 10 cents helps keep the entire Red Cross running by supporting routine, but indispensable day-to-day business operations. Learn more here.

Our audited financial statement and our full IRS Form 990, which disclose our revenues, expenses and all other important financial information, are accessible on redcross.org/publications and other public sites, such as GuideStar.