A top LGBTQ organization spent big bucks for its chief executive officer to take pricey flights, stay in ritzy hotels and summer rentals and even dropped nearly $20,000 on her home-office remodel, a damning report alleged Thursday.
GLAAD’s spending on CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, 52, was so extravagant that it worried its former chief financial officer and could have potentially violated IRS rules, according to a New York Times report that dug into payments between January 2022 and June 2023 and other documents.
Ellis, who makes roughly $700,000 annually at the non-profit, used at least $18,000 of a $20,000 allotment to renovate her home office on the top floor of her Long Island home, a revamp that included ivory pillows and a chandler, the newspaper reported.
The overhaul ensured the space was “suitable” for television appearances and virtual events, a GLAAD spokesperson claimed to the Times.
The Post has reached out to GLAAD for comment.
Because GLAAD did not declare the home renovation costs as income on Ellis’ tax forms — on advice from its lawyers — she most likely didn’t pay taxes on it, which nonprofit experts believe might have been an IRS violation, according to the Times.
Other lavish expenses reportedly included first-class flights, hotel stays at properties like the Waldorf Astoria — and a Cape Cod summer rental that cost $15,000.
The spokesperson defended the seasonal digs because it allowed Ellis to raise millions of dollars when fundraising is usually slow and called the luxe rental a business expense.
Last year, the spending raised alarm bells with GLAAD’s then-chief financial officer, Emily Plauche, who thought the doling out of money conflicted with the organization’s policies and was not being disclosed properly to the IRS, according to the Times.
After a law firm investigated her concerns, the organization changed its travel policies.
GLAAD defended the spending while its board of directors’ chair stated the board “stand firmly behind” Ellis.
“I take my role as GLAAD’s financial steward incredibly seriously, and we’ll continue updating our procedures to keep pace with the organization’s rapid growth,” Ellis, who has had the job since 2014, said in a statement, per The Hollywood Reporter.
“Our work has never been more urgent, because the LGBTQ community is under increasing attack.”
The organization also criticized the Times for tossing “significant resources to spin a negative story,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
GLAAD has been critical of the Times’ coverage of transgender people.
The Gray Lady’s spokesperson shot back that the article “was fair, accurate and based on objective information in GLAAD’s expense reports, employment contracts, tax filings and other documents,” according to the outlet.
