Honest Feedback

A quick look at the compensations offered by FSFW in 2020 (according to the 990PF)

The 990 PF form for 2020 (signed May 11, page 13) was made available on the FSFW's website (scroll down): pdf format. The Foundation's annual budget was reduced by PMI from $80 million to $45 million in 2020 but no explanation of this fact presented in an 'amended pledge agreement' is offered. PMI will further reduce its annual contribution to $40 million in 2021 and $35 million for the years after (until the end of 2029, supposedly), as stated in article 1.2 , page 2. It is still a lot of money. Is it wisely managed?

Comparing 2019 and 2020 (which means having both pdf documents open) we can see the total compensation of officers and directors diminished by $303,206 (at $2,097,811) while the "other employees salaries and wages' raised  by $672,112 to $7,422,970. Because of the severance pay for the employees that were laid off ? 

Don't think the members of the board were compensated less. In fact most were compensated at the same level as in 2019 for 'working' much less. That means examining Attachment 11 (starting on page 56 in the pdf file). 

Derek Yach got $922,651. ($35,075 less than in 2019), Zoe Feldman (who left July 27) got $44,827 for 4 hours per week (hpw) but she used to devote 19 hpw in 2019, for $56,181. It seems the main trend for most directors is they got paid the same as in 2019 for devoting much less time in 2020 (scroll pdf to page 56). Let us recall that 2 board members left in 2020 and have not been replaced yet (Zoe in July and Darshita in November).

Dyborn Chibonga: $50,000 for 1 hpw (used to be 8 hpw) (-7) that's $961 per hour

Darshita Gillies (left November 2), $41,984 for 4 hpw (used to be 6) (-2)

Paul Gardner :  $50,000 for 5 hpw (used to be 7) (-2)

Corinna Lathan: $50,000 for 7 hpw (used to be 11) (-4)

Noriko Tojo: $ 50,000 for 2 hpw (used to be 6) (-4) that's $480 per hour

Vandana Abramson: $45,245 for 1 hpw (used to be 2) (-1). that's $870 per hour

Angela Marshall Hofmann: $45,245 for 1 hpw (stable). that's $870 per hour

Pamela Parizek (Chair): $125,000 for 14 hpw  but in 2019 she got $93,681 for the same 14 hpw.

Is this level of compensation 'right'? You decide (but of course you don't have any say in this matter). As a friend commented: 'Another world'. Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. 

I noticed that David Janazzo (now CFO Treasurer) got a $17,966 raise at $314,567 while Nittin Mittal, the short lived "CSO/COO' (for how long and until when exactly? September 2020?) got $405,188. What was the recruiting fee for his hiring?

Golden parachute for Tom Harding? as former COO (he left on July 31, 2019) he is awarded in 2020, $307,692 (attachment 12, page 59 pdf) and credited of 40 hpw (?) while his linkedin account tells he is since August 2019, Assistant Coach, part time, cross country, track and field, at Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut. Searching a bit more, it looks like Tom Harding is now the COO of the Staples High School but I could not double check this info.

Ehsan Latif (VP grants management) gets $253,130, a raise of $35,589. Steadily climbing the salary ladder. In 2018, his salary was not listed in the 990PF, under $170,000 that was awarded to the 5th highest paid employee that year (see page 43 of the 990PF for 2018)

Waiting for the 990 PF form for 2020

It should appear at the bottom of the Financials page before May 31, 2021. 

Four new staff but still no explanation about the lay offs

Tina Claeys, Assistant Grants Manager, based in London, Valeria Bleymann, Grants financial officer, "lives in Scotland" (any relationship with Kayleigh?), Linda Cruze, Executive Assistant to the Legal Counsel (since March 2020), Pamela Appel, Senior Director "scientific exchange and communications" (hired since June according to Linkedin)

Did Philip Morris cut the Foundation's funding by half?

According to Philippe Poirson (use the translation tool if you don't understand French) Philip Morris would have cut its yearly contribution by half, from $80 million to $40 million, sometimes in September. Any comment from the Foundation? As of today there was nothing on their website. During his recent interview (October 6 on YouTube) by Brent Stafford of Regulator Watch, Derek briefly admits there has been a cut in the funding (see at 18 minutes). At 18,21 Brent asks how much. Derek's answers: "initially just under one billion but that is being cut in the last few months during COVID 19, but we believe we are still at a level of funding that is way beyond any other entity worldwide...". How deep is the cut? What is the reason given to justify the cut? Who asks the Foundation for precisions? Here is the contact form.

Most recent staff changes at the FSFW: what do they mean? When will anybody explain?

While the FSFW has not communicated about what one past employee called a 'strategic shift', it is possible thanks to the archive.org site to compare the list of the staff (as posted on August 25 2020) to the list as of October 1st 2020.
In the Executive team, 3 are gone:  Nittin Mittal (COO), Carolyn Blanckmeister (Chief Health Science Technology Officer), Jim Lutzweiler (VP Agriculture and livelihoods)
2 are promoted : Ehsan Latif, Candida Nakhumwa
Within Staff, are gone: 
In the Agriculture Team: 6 (Plus Jim Lutzweiler)
Kobby Amponsah, Melissa Benn, Chris Gray, Rob Henning, Michael Johnson, Karen Newman,
And 6 in other departments:
Maggie Daher (office of the President)
Charles Gardner (Health and Science Technology)
Sara Rajkumar (Health Science and technology)
Caitlin Shure (senior Communications Manager)
Alexandra Solomon (gender Specialist)
Matthew Watterson (Security)
So that's an apparent total of 15 departures in staff.

Zoe Feldman is no longer on the present page of the Board of Directors . She is not on the August 13 snapshot taken by Archive.org (while she still listed in a July snapshot). She was one of the initial 2017 board members. Now, only Dyborn Chibonga is left of the 2017 board.

The status of 2 communications staff who are not listed on the site is unknown:
Evan Hahn,  since March 2020 Executive Producer for the podcasts, not listed on the FSFW website, Linkedin profile
Carolyn Farnsworth, not listed as staff on the website but as author on the blog, copy editor for FSFW on Linkedin since March 2020
The questions asked by Jean-François Etter about the FSFW's lack of transparency, remain very pertinent.
How long can Derek remain silent about all this?

What's going on? What is happening with the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World 's staff?

Visiting the Foundation's website I found out Charles Gardner (who was the only and closest of an advocacy person) was not listed any longer as staff.

Apparently he is not the only one to have departed as of September 2020: tobaccotactics  (click on main staff on the left) notes:

"In September 2020, FSFW updated its website to reflect that it has lost 14 staff members, which represented 38% of its total staff the previous week." But they wrongly state that Carolyn “C.B.” Blanckmeister is the Foundation’s Chief Health Science Technology Officer. In fact she was not listed any longer when I visited. What happened to explain such an exodus that also includes the recently hired COO, Nittin Mittal (his linkedin page is not updated yet). Several of the other staff who left were with the Agriculture program, including the Head, Jim Lutzweiler (linkedin page not updated yet), Chris Gray who mentions a 'strategic shift', Rob Henning,

Alexandra Solomon gender specialist, Matthew Waterson, and many others.

Also disappeared from the Board of Directors, Zoe Feldman. What gives? Any comment available? Those 'changes' take place 3 years after the launch of the Foundation on September 13, 2017.

The Global Health Perspectives Podcasts by Derek Yach - Why not disclosing the guests financial ties with FSFW? Why such secrecy?

On April 1st 2020, Derek Yach started the Global Health Perspectives Podcast 

As of September 30, 2020 he has hosted 29 sessions, listed below.

At the beginning of podcast #20, posted on June 29, the podcast producer, Evan Hahn announced (for the first and only time):  "At the top of the show I want to get a quick disclaimer out of the way: All the scientists, doctors and public health experts that are interviewed on this show do so voluntarily and without any financial incentive. We neither endorse, nor particularly comments that are made by our guests (sic) but we encourage an open dialogue from all perspectives. That said if you have any questions or comments about the production process, please reach out to us at podcast at smokefreeworld.org ". I did reach out  on July 1st about the lack of disclosure of financial ties between the podcast guests and the FSFW but I have not received an answer (yet). By September 17, Derek started to mention on the site such links when they exist but without providing the amounts involved and not within the podcast itself , from the get go as that would be the most appropriate(see update below).

I understand the mention of the absence of financial incentive for the interview per se but I think it is worth  noticing that 13 of the guests are Foundation's grantees, while they also include 4 members of the board of directors who are compensated (if they have been serving for a certain period of time), 3 Foundation's employees ( including Derek) and 2 contractors: all have financial ties with the Foundation if not financial incentives. Those, often substantial financial ties are not systematically disclosed (for details see the list below).

By September 30, on the 29 guests, I found only 6 without such links (that I was able to assess).

What is the audience of the podcasts? I have only looked at Soundcloud where (for now) the program has 16 'followers' (subscribers): 14 episodes had less than 100 listeners, 4 had between 100 and 150, 2 between 150 and 200, and 2 more than 200. Maybe there are more on the other platforms (Spotify, iTunes)... Why not disclosing that a guest is a recipient of one or several grants from the Foundation? Why such secrecy? There is an ongoing controversy about how effective or eventually negative disclosing potential 'conflicts of interest' is. In this present case I only think it would be normal for host and guest to acknowledge/disclose their eventual relationship and even expand/explain about it. I believe everybody would gain and learn from such a transparent approach. Avoiding the issue, as presently done by Derek and the Foundation negatively impact their credibility, sustains inconsistent and incomplete information on the various outlets of the Foundation, gives credit to the power of their adversaries. What is there to fear, but fear itself? Rereading FD Roosevelt's address now is indeed most appropriate.

Update: starting with the episode 28 with Daniel Malan (September 17) and then with episode 29 with Sudanshu Patwardhan (September 30), Derek mentions on the site the existence of grants awarded to the guests but not the amounts. He does not appear to mention it during the interview (at least at the very start of each podcast).

Why a blog devoted to the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World?

The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, created in September 2017 with an annual $80 million grant from Philip Morris International (starting January 1st 2018), valid for 12 years, constitutes -by far as of today- the biggest not for profit endowment in the field of tobacco control and harm reduction.

The missing (or very defective) core strategic pillar: "communications"

First read this extract from the FSFW's  Strategic Plan 2019-2021: Midpoint update (July 2020) and note the points with the yellow background.

What's wrong with the FSFW's Midpoint update about "Communications"

It took me a while to discover this small PDF format document titled Midpoint Update: Communications. I have copied it because it is a sad example of what's very wrong with the FSFW as far as 'communications' are concerned.