Mo. Charity Comes Under Scrutiny

Working Families’ Friend, a Kansas City, Mo., charity, is attracting criticism because it paid nearly twice as much to the group’s two employees as it spent on its mission of helping the needy, The Kansas City Star reports.

The group makes grants to help working people who cannot make ends meet.

While Mike Montgomery, the charity’s president, defended the ratio of salary to grants, critics say the charity was set up to provide a job for Mr. Montgomery and support workers who belong to specific labor unions. The organization awarded more than $100,000 in grants last year.

Most of the charity’s money comes from the Heart of America United Way, where Mr. Montgomery worked until 2003.

Mr. Montgomery said he helped start the charity in January 2003 after he decided that workers recently laid off by local companies needed more assistance that the United Way could provide.

Some people who have worked with Mr. Montgomery in the past accuse him of creating the charity so he could continue to work with labor unions after leaving the United Way.

Tom Dugard, chief executive of Heart of America United Way, said his group does not think Mr. Montgomery’s compensation is excessive, and is satisfied with his performance at Working Families’ Friend.