Spying for fun and nonprofits
Last fall I was working on a column about National Public Radio and asked their spokeswoman for their most recent Internal Revenue Service Form 990. That is a report filed by all US nonprofit corporations -- schools, foundations, and even private clubs -- that provides details about their operations. I had heard there was a kerfuffle about high newsreaders' salaries at NPR.
I was rebuffed. A more assiduous reporter would have gone straight to the IRS for the form, but I knew I had a fallback: Guidestar.
How do I love Guidestar? Let me count the ways. Guidestar.org is a Williamsburg, Va.-based website that posts all of the IRS filings of the nation's charities and nonprofits. Guidestar itself is a so-called 501(c)(3) public charity, supported by many of the foundations it reports on.
Spending time with Guidestar is like digital dumpster-diving; a socially acceptable, guiltily pleasurable invasion of privacy. No, you can't find every secret you'd like. I couldn't come up with a filing for the Russell Trust Association , which supposedly bankrolls Yale's spooky secret society Skull and Bones. Nothing for Harvard's Porcellian Club, either.
But I did find those NPR newsreader salaries. Nothing terribly shocking there. Renee Montaigne made $308,000; Steve Inskeep , $301,000, and Robert Siegel $288,000. Those aren't shocking numbers. NBC's Brian Williams fixes his hair, stares into a teleprompter , and makes about 20 times that amount.
If you're into voyeurism -- and who isn't? -- you can take a peep at the Barbra Streisand Foundation's stock portfolio, or scrutinize the many worthy, left-leaning donations favored by the zaftig crooner: People for the American Way, Heal the Bay, Gold Star Families for Peace, etc. Britney Spears's foundation seems eerily out of date. "Britney and Kevin have reached an agreement with UPN to broadcast a new television series that shares their personal love story through exclusive, never-before-seen private home videos," the foundation website reports.
While it's true that I couldn't find the above-mentioned Yale and Harvard clubs, it's easy to tee up Boston's venerable Tavern Club, which "provides social activities" for its members. I love the Tavern. It's so down at the mouth. Picture the "Blade Runner" set minus the leaky pipes. Every time I go there some walrus is pawing through the local tabloid, cursing the loopy-liberal Globe, and waxing nostalgic for Boston's last "real" paper, the Herald-Traveler. Tavern's officers Lodge, Richardson, and Scudder reported net assets of $1.3 million and restaurant receipts of $240,000, which is a lot of money spent on some pretty mediocre food.
Up on Beacon Hill, the better-appointed Somerset Club is richer than Tavern, with $6.3 million of assets in the till. Officers Lovejoy, Boardman, and Lyman let you take a gander at their super blue-chip stock portfolio: Coke, Exxon, Procter & Gamble, Chevron,
Salaries? Check 'em out! Billy Starr, founder of the successful Pan-Mass. Challenge charity bike ride, has in the past testily refused to disclose his salary. In the PMC's Form 990, his compensation is listed as "None." A note explains that the Challenge's board negotiates a $900,000 management fee with Starrting Events, a company that Starr owns. Jackie Herskovitz , a spokeswoman for PMC, says Starr's company has eight full- and part-time employees, and that his salary is $300,000. "The guy makes a reasonable salary; we're not trying to hide that," she says.
Over in ArtWorld, Institute of Contemporary Art capo Jill Medvedow pulls down a non-extravagant $219,000, according to the ICA's latest filing. She should move to LA. Out there, Museum of Contemporary Art director Jeremy Strick makes $425,000. Malcolm -- I think that Museum of Fine Arts boss Malcolm Rogers has achieved first-name only, "Seiji" status here -- pulls down $530,000.
Did someone mention Seiji? The BSO paid James Levine $1.6 million, according to its most recent 990; James Taylor, $774,000; Keith Lockhart, $740,000. Concertmaster Malcolm Lowe is the BSO's top-paid player, pulling down $353,000, according to the form filed in 2005.
Mothers -- do let your sons grow up to be timpanists! The BSO pays someone almost $200,000 to bang on those skins.
Alex Beam is a Globe columnist. His e-dress isbeam@globe.com. 
