Exec salaries skyrocket while cash-strapped 9/11 museum continues to bleed red: ‘Slap in the face’
Executive salaries are skyrocketing at the nonprofit that runs the 9/11 Memorial and Museum — even as it continues to hemorrhage money — infuriating families of the victims.
Built to remember the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and to honor the nearly 3,000 people killed, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum has struggled to stay above water, despite attracting a reported 9,000 visitors a day.
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In 2020, The Post revealed it doled out bonuses to its 12 top officials, despite having to lay off or furlough 60% of its staff after closing for six months during the pandemic — and landing $47 million in the red for the year.
Four years later, the bleeding — and over-sized executive salaries — hasn’t stopped.
The museum managed to lose nearly $20 million last year — even while charging a $36 admission fee, and $85 for a combined museum/memorial tour.
The nonprofit brought in $93 million in 2024 — including at least $4.5 million in taxpayer money — but racked up $112 million in expenses, its latest IRS tax filings show.
Leading the list of expenditures were bloated salaries of top brass:
- President and CEO Elizabeth Hillman pocketed $856,216 — a $775,084 base salary, $34,500 in retirement and deferred compensation, and $45,679 in other benefits, according to IRS filings. That represented a 63% raise in just two years, after taking the helm in 2022 from Alice Greenwald, who made just $502,999.
- Executive VP Joshua Cherwin, the chief advancement officer and second highest-paid official, hauled in $486,298 last year — $410,379 base, plus $75,919 in other compensation. This was an eye-watering 78% increase from what he made in 2020, the last time The Post reported on museum payroll.
- Chief Strategy and Operations Officer Allison Blais, No. 3 on the pay scale, made $458,652 last year, including a $388,458 salary and $70,194 in benefits.
- The museum’s director, Clifford Chanin, saw his pay jump 66% – from $267,613 in 2021 to $444,999 in 2024, the 990 filings show. He got a $398,114 base salary, plus another $46,885.
- Chief Financial Officer David Shehaan went from making $109,938 in 2019, to $432,958 in 2024 – a jaw dropping 294% bump. His base was $392,653, and his other comp totaled $40,305.
Of the museum’s 411 total employees, 13 made more than $100,000, according to the filings.
Total payroll was $34 million in 2024, compared to just $22 million in 2020.
The surging salaries amid a continuing financial morass confounded and angered 9/11 families.
“How can you justify these salaries?” wondered Jim McCaffrey, a retired FDNY firefighter whose brother-in-law, Firefighter Orio Palmer, died on 9/11.
“It’s just another slap in the face of the families, more pain and grief to add to the heartache.”
Of its $93 million revenue, the high-profile foundation took in only $10.3 million in private donations. Most of the cash, $69 million, came from the sale of tickets, tours, memberships and souvenirs.
The bulk of the nonprofit’s $4.5 million in government funding came from the National Park Service, plus $500,000 from New York State taxpayers, and between $110,000 and $350,000 from New York City.
While salaries and budget deficits grow, ticket prices skyrocketed 50% from the $24 adult museum-entry fee in 2015 to $36 today. There’s no cost to visit the famed outdoor memorial.
The organization’s $112 million in expenses for 2024 included a $34 million payroll, $13 million for janitor services, and $10 million for private security. It paid another $7 million in rent to the Port Authority, which owns the World Trade Center site, including the land beneath the museum and memorial.
The foundation doesn’t pay for NYPD and Port Authority Police patrols of the grounds.
The foundation counted $28 million for “depreciation, depletion and amortization” of its equipment and furnishings, which gets counted in the loss column.
In response to Post inquiries, the organization noted that the deficit was driven by depreciation, a non-cash expense, and that if it didn’t count that, it would have finished with a cash surplus.
“Our 2024 990 is a testament to the progress made last year and our ability to serve a growing number of visitors and participants in our commemorative and educational programs,” it said.
Experts explained that “depreciation” is something that all non-profits and corporations are required to count, because it essentially spreads the cost of big-ticket items – like aging infrastruture and equipment — over time rather than hitting the books all at once. Though a paper loss, healthy and well-run organizations should finish in the black despite depreciation.
GuideStar — a charity watchdog — gives the foundation its lowest rating in its four-tier system.
The museum’s trustees include celebs such as Robert DeNiro, Billy Crystal and Jon Stewart. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the board chairman. He gave $15 million to the nonprofit as a personal loan to get it off the ground. Bloomberg Philanthropies donates every year, giving between $100,000 and $250,000 in 2024, according to the nonprofit’s annual report.
Bloomberg Philanthropies did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
“From the very beginning it was very clear that the 9/11 Memorial and Museum would not only be the most expensive memorial museum ever built on the planet, but also the most expensive to operate as well,” slammed Glenn Corbett, professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and advisor to 9/11 firefighter families.
The 9/11 Memorial and Museum’s first full year of operation ended in the red, with costs outstripping revenues by $25.2 million.
Corbett and the victims’ families have long called for the National Park Service to assume control of the complex.
“The 911 memorial museum is paying out bloated salaries while asking Congress for handouts,” said Sally Regenhard, who lost her son Christian Regenhard, a firefighter at Ground Zero on 9/11.
At the heart of the families’ long-running bitterness with museum leaders is their continued refusal to put the remains of the 1,100 still-unidentified victims anywhere but the building’s basement, ignoring the pleas of families — while they profit on their tragedy.
“That is unpatriotic and un-American and disrespectful to everyone who died for the USA on 9/11,” said Regenhard.
In 2016, the House of Representatives passed a bill to grant up to $25 million a year to the foundation, but it never passed the Senate.
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