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CHARLOTTE (AP) — Evangelist Franklin Graham has temporarily given up future contributions to his retirement plans from the two ministries where he's the CEO, saying his total compensation "looks terrible."

The Charlotte Observer reported today that Graham receives two full-time salaries and two retirement packages — one each from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse. His total compensation from them last year was $1.2 million — $535,000 from Samaritan's Purse, based in Boone, and $669,000 from Charlotte-based BGEA.

Graham acknowledged last week that his compensation total "looks terrible" and that "people won't understand it."

The newspaper said Graham, 57, asked the heads of the two ministries' compensation committees Tuesday to cut off contributions to his retirement plan "for the time being." He sent a memo about the request to employees Wednesday.

Spokesman Mark DeMoss said Samaritan's Purse will suspend payments for 2010 because it has funded Graham's retirement for 2009. He said Graham will receive no retirement payments for 2009 from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Most of Graham's compensation in 2008 came from accelerated contributions to his retirement, both he and his boards said. Graham received no retirement his first five-plus years at Samaritan's Purse and first year at the BGEA.

The evangelist and his wife, Jane, "are grateful to the (boards) for these contributions to my future retirement, but in the current economic climate I don't feel good accepting such retirement make-up provisions," he said in a statement e-mailed to the Observer.

DeMoss said "the (BGEA) compensation committee believes the overall compensation approved for Franklin was appropriate (and did not ask him to alter it), but Franklin believes the impression given by these somewhat unusual reporting procedures is not a good one. If or when the economic situation improves significantly he will consider accepting contributions to his retirement plan."

Also, $300,000 of what he received last year from BGEA was deferred retirement money that had been committed and reported over three previous years, Graham and the board said. Under new Internal Revenue Service rules, the money had to be re-reported as a lump sum in 2008, the year Graham became vested.

Even with that $300,000 plus accrued interest taken out, Graham's compensation at BGEA rose 21 percent in 2008, from $250,000 to $303,000. The median increase for CEOs at the nation's biggest charities in 2008 was 7 percent, according to an annual survey released last week by the Journal of Philanthropy.

BGEA laid off 55 people in February.

At Samaritan's Purse, Graham's compensation grew about 3 percent from 2007 to 2008.

Graham said the $300,000 in deferred retirement he had to re-report gives a false impression of how much his compensation has grown. He said he worried that it could put off donors and other supporters of his ministries.

"Nothing's been done that's bad," he said. "It's a perception issue, but in the nonprofit world, you have to be careful of perceptions."

Instead of adopting the deferred retirement plan at BGEA, he said, it would have been better "to take a bonus every year."

But Graham said he has always felt overpaid. "I enjoy and love what I do," he said. "It's not a job, it's a calling. I'd do it for nothing."

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Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotte.com