1736 Family Crisis Center CEO living in Hawaii on taxpayer dime

Is it giving selfless leadership or straight-up main character energy? A massive controversy is brewing at the 1736 Family Crisis Center in Los Angeles, where CEO Carol Adelkoff is under fire for how she’s spending the nonprofit’s cash.

The Real Tea

According to an LA Times investigation, Adelkoff has been living on the Big Island of Hawaii for at least a decade, while the nonprofit she runs—which survives on 94% taxpayer-funded grants—covers major perks for her. We’re talking $6,500 a month for a luxury Santa Monica apartment and a leased BMW for her use in Hawaii, a state where the organization has zero clients or shelters.

Then there’s the money. Adelkoff pulled in $1.6 million over two years, making her the highest-paid homeless services executive in the city. She claims a huge chunk of that—about $824,000—was just her cashing out four decades of unused vacation time. She told the LA Times, “It was simply a matter of reducing accrued vacation liability.” Her base salary sits at about $405,000, while the next-highest earner at the nonprofit makes $206,000.

The Pushback

This isn't just surfacing now; back in 2019, senior staffers actually hired an attorney to alert the board and eventually the California Attorney General about what they felt was an improper use of funds. The nonprofit’s attorney, Kerry Garvis Wright, defended the housing expenses, claiming it was cheaper than hotels and safer for the CEO.

Nonprofit experts are lowkey side-eyeing the situation. While other employees were capped on how much vacation time they could save up, it seems Adelkoff wasn’t. CharityWatch CEO Laurie Styron called the payout “highly unusual.”

Why it matters

When you’re dealing with a nonprofit that brings in $15 million annually to help victims of domestic violence and homelessness, transparency is non-negotiable. This situation highlights how easily governance can get messy when there's a lack of oversight on executive pay and remote work arrangements. For you, it’s a reminder to always check where your tax dollars are really going.