Compensation of Charity CEOs
September 29, 2008

Executive Pay Outpaces Inflation

Median compensation rose 5%, a new Chronicle study finds

By Noelle Barton and Ben Gose
The Chronicle of Philanthropy

The median pay increase of leaders of the nation's largest nonprofit organizations outpaced inflation last year, according to The Chronicle's 16th annual survey of executive compensation and benefits.

Chief executives at the nation's biggest charities and foundations received a median pay increase of 5 percent, while inflation rose by 4.1 percent. (A median increase means half of the raises were higher and half lower.)

And yet that 5-percent increase marks the biggest one-year raise for nonprofit leaders since the 7.5-percent median increase reported in The Chronicle's 2002 survey.

Experts predict that executive compensation may continue to rise this year, even in the face of a slowing economy. Charity boards are increasingly recruiting for-profit executives to make the switch to the nonprofit world, and some are now sweetening pay packages to lure out-of-town candidates who may need to sell their home at a loss as part of a move.

The median salary for chief executives at the organizations surveyed was $326,500, based on information from 249 groups that provided data for both 2006 and 2007. In 2006 the median salary was $308,800.

The survey was based on information provided by 291 organizations that are among those that raised the most money from private sources in 2007, as well as grant makers that held the most in assets that year....

Read the full article: Executive Pay Outpaces Inflation

Copyright © 2008 The Chronicle of Philanthropy

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