Mary Wittenberg (AFP/Getty Images)
LONG HAUL: Organizers of the NYC Marathon, headed by Mary Wittenberg, paid less to charity than for her salary. (
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So much for charity.
Organizers of the New York City Marathon, who routinely crow about all the money the race raises for good causes, doled out only $494,000 in direct aid last year — less than what they paid their CEO, Mary Wittenberg, records show.
New York Road Runners Inc., the nonprofit host of the marathon, raked in $53.8 million in revenue in 2011 and handed over the bulk of its direct charitable contribution, $208,340, to support its own kids programs.
The remainder went primarily to other runners organizations across the country, the group’s most recent IRS tax filing shows.
Meanwhile, Wittenberg earned $500,843. The median CEO salary last year for a Northeast non-profit the size of NYRR was $294,593, according to the watchdog Charity Navigator.
In total, NYRR paid its top seven executives, including Wittenberg, more than $1.8 million, the filing shows.
The tax returns show the organization also paid more in fees to groups affiliated with its board members than it did to charity last year.
For example, the Armory Foundation — which counts three NYRR board members as directors — collected a $250,000 fee for venue rental, and running promoters World Marathon Majors, where Wittenberg is on the board, got $250,000 for services it provided, the tax filing shows.
NYRR gave out even less in direct aid in 2010.
That year, it handed out just $252,000, primarily to its children’s affiliate.
And the money it raises is all on the backs of runners, anyway.
“It’s the runners who do the NYRR races that raise the real charity money that NYRR brags about,” a longtime member told The Post.
“[NYRR] providea the platform for [the fund-raising], yes, but they’d never be able to make those claims if it weren’t for the sweat equity of the athletes.”
New York City Marathon runners last year brought in $34 million for charity, Wittenberg says.
“Let’s try for $38 million this year!” she urged runners shortly before she reversed the group’s half-baked decision to hold the race days after Sandy struck.
Most runners secure a spot in the race by agreeing to run for charity and raising money.
Charities first pay NYRR $575 to $900 for a set number of runners’ slots, say those familiar with the transactions.
Charities also kick in an 4.5 percent fee for contributions raised over Crowdrise, NYRR’s online fund-raising platform.
The runners then pay a charity a fee — anywhere from $100 to more than $500, competitors said — and must promise to raise a minimum of $3,000 to $5,000, depending on the charity, to score a marathon spot. The runners also pay NYRR an entry fee ranging from $227 to $358.
Last year, NYRR, which hosts more than 50 races a year and runs clinics and seminars, raked in $26 million in entry fees alone.
It got an additional $10 million from sponsorships and TV and more than $8 million in contributions and membership dues, the IRS filing shows.
NYRR’s expenses included $22 million for the ING marathon, the records show.
Most of the organization’s remaining revenue went to salaries and employee benefits ($12.6 million), advertising, consultants, weekly races and adult- and youth-running programs.
After Sandy hit — but before the marathon was canceled — NYRR pledged to increase its own giving to help victims, coughing up a $1 million for the “Race to Recover.”
Calls to Wittenberg’s Manhattan home went unanswered yesterday.
In its mission statement, NYRR doesn’t claim to be set up as a fund-raising charity, saying that its goal is to promote distance running and fitness and that it dedicates its revenues to those purposes.