Nonprofit directors are allowed to receive competitive salaries, she said. Smith, whose research interests include taxation of nonprofit organizations, said it is fairly common for nonprofit directors to receive what some might perceive are high salaries. "I'm amazed at the income," said Pamela Smith, an accounting professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Taken together, his payment package, $842,005 in compensation and $414,485 in benefits, was one of the highest, if not the highest, pay package for a nonprofit director in the San Antonio area in 2001. It also includes a manager's house, a smokehouse, a skeet range and three barns.
The John Hagee Rabbi Trust includes a $2.1 million 7,969-acre ranch outside Brackettville, with five lodges, including a "main lodge" and a gun locker. He also received $411,561 in benefits from GETV, including contributions to a retirement package for highly paid executives the IRS calls a "rabbi trust," so named because the first beneficiary of such an irrevocable trust was a rabbi. It also receives a discount on bulk mailing.Īnd it is also able to sell products tax-free and at a 50 percent profit because selling religious books, tapes and albums fits within GETV's broadly stated mission, which is to "spread the gospel of Jesus Christ."Īccording to the 990 forms for GETV, the organization in 2001 netted $12.3 million from donations, $4.8 million in profit from the sales of books and tapes, and an additional $1.1 million from various other sources, including rental income.Īs the nonprofit organization's president, Hagee drew $540,000 in compensation, as well as an additional $302,005 in compensation for his position as president of Cornerstone Church, according to GETV's tax statements. In return for complying, it isn't required to pay income taxes on revenue, business and operation taxes and property taxes. Like most nonprofit organizations, GETV is obligated to disclose its finances by making IRS income tax statements, called 990 forms, available to the public. That year, Hagee's total compensation package amounted to more than $1.25 million. "God has blessed it until it has literally reached the Earth," Hagee recently said at his studio about his television evangelism enterprise.Īccording to income tax statements that GETV filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the nonprofit organization drew $18.3 million in revenue in 2001, the most recent year the organization submitted a return to the IRS. Since Hagee and his wife, Diana Hagee, founded GETV 25 years ago, the organization has gone from a back-room operation broadcasting Sunday sermons to San Antonio area viewers to a 50,000-square-foot multimedia studio broadcasting to 127 television stations and 82 radio stations nationwide. "If you're not prospering, it's because you're not giving," he repeats.įor four decades, Hagee's message has motivated his members to give millions to his ministry.Īnd it is a message that has helped his nonprofit television arm, Global Evangelism Television, become a prosperous, global, moneymaking family enterprise that has netted millions year after year peddling prayer, inspirational books, tapes and the promise of prosperity. If you're not prospering, it's because you're not giving." "If God gives to you before you give to him, God himself will become a liar. "When you give, it qualifies you to receive God's abundance," he tells his listeners.
The thousands repeat after him: "Give and it shall be given." With the dozens of men bearing glinting platters in the aisles, and six cameramen capturing the moment, Hagee instructs church members to hold their money toward the heavens. Then Hagee tells ushers at his 5,000-seat Cornerstone Church to take their positions.
Perched atop a red-carpet altar, seated on a wide white and blue throne, Pastor John Hagee waits until the jazz band has quieted, the 125-member choir has left the stage and the soloist has moved the congregation almost to tears.Īn emotional, energetic half-hour of song praising the glory of God passes. Critics say John Hagee's compensation is too high
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