American Bible Society CEO salary reveals a lot about one of the leading non-profit organizations in the world. The organization has been influential in the cultural and historical events that shaped present-day America and the world at large. One would expect that the CEO of such an organization is highly paid, but far from that. The CEO and the organization are driven by more pressing issues that affect both the physical and spiritual well-being of humanity, and how well they are paid doesn’t seem to be of concern to them. This isn’t to say that they are not well appreciated for their work.
Today we would be taking an “eagle-eye” look into the salary of the CEO. But before we go into that, let’s learn more about the organization and its impact in the world.
American Bible Society
“American Bible Society is a United States based Christian non-profit society with its headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the American member organization of United Bible Societies, it supports global Bible translation, production, distribution, literacy, engagement, ministry, and advocacy efforts. American Bible Society publishes and distributes inter-confessional translations of the Christian Bible, and provides study aids and other tools to help people engage with it. It also does research and investigations into the teachings of the Bible and how its historical events and prophecies have been able to manifest themselves in present times.”
“American Bible Society was founded on May 11, 1816, in New York City. It is best known for its translation of the Good News Bible into the contemporary vernacular of languages around the world. American Bible Society has also published the Contemporary English Version of the Bible.”
“American Bible Society is a member of the United Bible Societies, Forum of Bible Agencies International, Every Tribe Every Nation. The American Society is also not affiliated with any Christian denomination. However, it does not consider Latter-day Saints or Jehovah’s Witnesses to be Christians.”
American Bible Society CEO salary
During the era of the slave trade in America, many American Bible Society founders, including Elias Boudinot and John Jay, opposed the institution of slavery in the United States.
“One publicized event at the time was when the American Bible Society refused a donation offered in 1834 by the American Anti-Slavery Society. The purpose was to subsidize the distribution of Bibles to American slaves, about one-sixth of the population, as abolitionists believed that knowledge of the Bible hastened the end of slavery. (That the Bible supported slavery was maintained by several Southern clergymen. While it sent Bibles to Liberia for the former slaves there, the American Bible Society left domestic distribution in the hands of its state auxiliaries, who refused to distribute Bibles directly to slaves. The Society was widely seen as insufficiently committed to the abolition of slavery, to the point that the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society “decided to throw most of its support behind the American Missionary Society, an organization that it believed was making a ‘systematic effort’ to get Bibles and tracts to slaves.” [source Wikipedia]
Handicapped
“American Bible Society began its outreach to the handicapped in 1835. For instance, the Society supplied the Braille machine (a system of writing invented by Louis Braille, in which letters and some combinations of letters are represented by raised dots arranged in three rows of two dots each and are read by the blind and partially sighted using the fingertips) for the blind, so they could read the Bible.”
“By 1912, the American Bible Society issued Bibles for use in the United States in 83 languages besides English. Foreign circulation was rising steadily, increasing from 250,000 copies in 1876 to over 2 million copies in 1915. The American Bible Society celebrated a century of service to China in 1934. Vice President John R. Mott recalled that in 1833, the American Bible Society sent $3,000 to Elijah Coleman Bridgman, the first U.S. Protestant missionary to China, to print scriptures in Chinese. As of 1934, the American Bible Society had spent $2,897,383 distributing nearly 70 million volumes of Scripture in China.”
“The American Bible Society’s mission is to make the Bible available to all people, and to that end, during the 19th century, four canvasses of the United States for this purpose were undertaken. These canvasses took place in 1829, 1856, 1866, and 1882. During the fourth canvass, in 1882, more than 6.3 million families were visited, and 473,806 families were supplied with Bibles; in addition, nearly 300,000 individuals received Bibles. American Bible Society sold 437,000 Scriptures and portions in 1898 in China.” [source Wikipedia]
9/11 ATTACK
“In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the American Bible Society distributed more than one million Scriptures and offered them free of charge to those affected by the tragedy. Staff members of the American Bible Society also volunteered at Ground Zero, distributing Scripture Portions to rescue workers. It has also distributed copies to the military, including producing a pocket-sized military Bible, developed jointly with the aid of Catholic and Protestant chaplains from all branches of the armed forces. Since 1817, it has distributed almost 60 million free Bible resources to America’s armed forces. It also provides Scriptures to victims of natural disasters.”
Natural Disasters
“The American Bible Society has also been active in relieving the suffering of those impacted by natural disasters. Following the tsunami in 2004, the American Bible Society worked in cooperation with the United Bible Societies and partner Bible Societies in Thailand, Indonesia, India, and Sri Lanka to provide a host of Bible resources to people in the affected regions. In 2005, it sent nearly a million Bibles and Scripture portions to those who survived the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The American Bible Society formed a partnership with Habitat for Humanity to give a free Bible to each of its new homeowners in the United States.”
The Opposition Of Same-Sex Marriage
The American Bible Society has been very vocal in its opposition to same-sex marriage. They believe that same-sex marriage strongly goes against the teachings of the Bible. Due to this affirmation, the Society lost 20 percent of its workforce who were not in agreement with such an outlook. The Society has also faced heavy criticism from many progressive movements, who view the society as backward and sticking only to the old ways of life and dogmatic teachings of their scriptures.
CEO Of American Bible Society
Robert L. Briggs is CEO and President of the American Bible Society, one of the most recognized and influential nonprofit organizations in the world. He became the CEO of the 204-year-old Bible ministry on the 23rd of July, upon the retirement of Roy L. Peterson, the former CEO. Before he was appointed CEO, he served the society for 20 years and led the society through various leadership roles and important matters affecting the Christian ministry.
Briggs has served the American Bible Society in a variety of leadership roles, including senior vice president of the U.S. Ministry and vice president of advancement. Before that, he led the Global Ministry team and served internationally as a member of the Global Council of United Bible Societies, chairing the nominations’ committee. He is a founding member of the steering committee for Every Tribe Every Nation, an alliance that brings together the largest Bible agencies in the world that are working to ensure that 100 percent of the world’s population has access to the Scriptures.
The organization is confident that under his leadership, the society will launch a landmark historical centre in Philadelphia designed to showcase the Bible’s role in the lives of the founding fathers and early American history.
But its work is not only American. The society partners with other organizations in other countries of the world towards speeding up the distribution of the Bible to all parts of the world and the translation of the Bible to be accessible in all languages.
Salary Of The American Bible Society CEO
The average American Bible Society executive compensation is $210,485 a year. The median estimated compensation for executives at the American Bible Society, including base salary and bonus, is $212,255. At the American Bible Society, the most compensated executive makes $518,000, annually, and the lowest compensated makes $50,000. In 2021, the CEO received a sum of $264,069 as salary and $2,000 as a bonus. This payment isn’t fixed, and it can increase the longer the period of the role as CEO. For instance, at the time of his retirement, former CEO Roy L. Peterson received a sum of $389,777 as salary and $10, 223 as a bonus.
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