ray comfort, living waters, ambassadors academy
I swear the Bible has something to say about lying, but maybe I'm wrong, because Ray Comfort is lying again.
I swear the Bible has something to say about lying, but maybe I'm wrong, because Ray Comfort is lying again.
During the summer months, we have monthly training for people from around the world in something called the "Ambassador’s Academy." If you love the Lord and care about the lost (the unsaved), you may like to attend one of these. If you don’t love the Lord, get right with God, and then come to an Academy--we would love to meet you. It really is life-changing.
Note: Before you (atheists) accuse us of making money from these, please realize that we lose $300 for every person who attends. So why do we do it? We care about where you will spend eternity. No other reason.
If you've never heard the expression before, a "loss leader" is something a store sells for less than they paid for it in order to get you into the store, presuming that you will spend money on other items at the store, and they'll end up ahead. Stores do this because it works. They take a loss on one item because they gain on others.
The Ambassador's Academy is Ray's loss leader. How do I know this? Because he's not running in the red. From the Raytractors:
For 2006 Living Waters Publications sold 4.5 million dollars worth of merchandise that only cost the organization 1.9 million (a 137% markup). Living waters also took in $736,472 in donations. This gave the org a net revenue of 3.3 million to be added to the 1.4 million it had in the bank at the beginning of the year.
The expenditures for 2006 list fund raising receiving 1.2%, program services receiving 24.5%, and managerial and general receiving 74.1% of the 3 million spent. IMHO, if you are running a nonprofit and only 24% of your expenditures are going to the programs and services the org was created to address, and 74% are going to Managerial and General expenses, you're doin' it wrong.
. . .
Ray's compensation from living waters has increased as the org's monies have increased. In 2004, when the org had only $300 on the books, Ray took no money. This inclines me to believe that Ray also has other methods of income that are not affiliated with Living Waters. Book sales and speaking engagements perhaps? Can't say for sure, but I can speculate.In 2005, when LW took in 2.4 million, Ray's compensation jumped up to $50,000.
In 2006 Ray was compensated with $119,784.
. . .
Ray's DomicileRay lives in Bellflower, CA, a suburb of LA. By visiting LA's county assessor website I found out that Ray's house has been valued at a quarter of a million dollars. Additionally, I visited the LA Times real estate section and looked at some of the going rates for houses in his neighborhood. Even if he doesn't own the best house in town, he certainly lives in a nice neighborhood.
Yeah, Ray, it's all for the souls.
That is the from the Living Waters' 2007 tax return. As you can clearly see, Ray made $120,000 in 2007, amost 6 times what I make.
We need to get more up to date numbers, it is a non-profit so it is all out there for free. I guarantee that Ray's pay has gone up.
ReplyDeleteHow do I do that? I could update the post.
ReplyDeleteYou register with Guidestar, which I have I am looking at the 2007 990 form right now.
ReplyDeleteSo they received 908,754 in donations.
ReplyDeleteMade 4,595,473 off of products for sale
Which cost 1,868,274 to make
So they ended up making 2,727,199 in sales
They also made 4,063 in other revenue
Programs and services cost them 2,095,804
Management and general cost them 1,681,856
Fund raising cost 63,757
They actually posted a loss for 2007 of 201,324
but they had 1,644,516 from last year to cover the loss
Even having a loss for the year Ray increased his pay to an even 120,000
His son (Daniel Comfort) was paid 93,462 as Sec and V.P.
In 2006 his son was paid 87,866
His V.P. (Emeal Zwayne) was paid 133,576 which is up from 111,759 in 2006
The CFO's salary jumped from 64,616 to 92,077.
These increases in pay add up too, 54900 exactly, which is 27% of the loss for the year.
Salaries overall cost 1,362,671 which is up from 1,230,556, that is an increase of 132,115 of which 41% went to 4 people.
I will send you the pdf if you want to look at it.
Notice something else, guys? They spent $250 on their "Benevolence" program, which is described as short term cash assistance to those in need, and $775,000 on the Way of the Master radio show.
ReplyDeleteApparently, there were no poor people in need of assistance in 2007.
Just for the record, a 250k house in LA county isn't a nice neighborhood, it's low middle class.
ReplyDeleteBut, but Ray tells us he earns an 'average wage', aren't you all earning 6 figures these days?
ReplyDeleteThat fact that Ray even needs to include such a caveat about money and wealth is telling...it's pretty obvious that he and his entire organization are swimming in tons of cash that was collected up very quickly within the last couple years. If he wasn't a fraud getting rich off the rubes, he never would have even mentioned something like this.......Conman x 10.
ReplyDelete