September 16, 2012 | Read Time: 1 minute
Emmett Carson
Chief Executive
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
2011 compensation: $601,258
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation has played a key role in helping to secure low-cost housing for people in California’s San Mateo and Santa Clara counties who were hurt by the economic downturn.
In June, for example, the foundation awarded $1-million to 19 nonprofits that provide food and shelter to people who lost jobs, houses, and more in tough times.
“Without them helping us, many people would fall through the cracks in the safety net,” says Don Horsley, vice president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.
It turns out that housing is a key part of the compensation package for Emmett Carson, the foundation’s top executive.
Mr. Carson in 2011 earned a base salary of $477,000 and a $25,000 performance bonus. The foundation board also forgave a $99,258 loan payment Mr. Carson was to make on a $500,000 housing loan he received in 2006. The housing loan was a perk he negotiated when he agreed to moved to California from Minneapolis, where he headed the local community fund.
Each year, Mr. Carson must make a payment with interest, unless his performance is strong enough to prompt the board to forgive the payment.
“The board reviews that payment each year,” Rebecca Salner, the foundation’s spokeswoman, explained in an e-mail. “The payment in 2011 was forgiven, based on performance.”
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation was the nation’s fifth-largest community foundation by assets in 2008, according to an annual survey by the Council on Foundations. It now ranks No. 2.
And in 2011, its assets rose by 14 percent to $2.08-billion from $1.83-billion in 2010, according to the survey.
