We love Charity Navigator. They did a great job producing the 5th annual CEO Compensation Study.
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Here is the conclusion to their study:
“While it is true that the paychecks of some nonprofit executives are outrageously high, this study confirms that those receiving excessive pay are in the minority. However, we recognize that many donors will be hesitant to agree that the CEO of their favorite charity deserves a six figure salary. To the skeptics, we ask that you keep in mind that the charities included in this study are multi-million dollar operations. Leading one of them requires an individual that possesses both an understanding of the issues that are unique to the charity’s mission as well as business and management expertise similar to that required of for-profit CEOs. Attracting and retaining that type of talent requires a certain level of compensation – roughly $160,000 according to our analysis. For comparative purposes, the average salary of CEOs at S&P 250 companies is $1 million, excluding bonus packages and stock options that drive the average compensation up to $7.6 million.
Given the current economic climate, many readers of this study may question how it is that our study shows an increase in the average charity CEO compensation. Almost on a daily basis we learn of charitiescutting programs, staff and salaries. So, how could it be that the average nonprofit CEO was awarded a 6% raise? Here it is important for readers to remember that unlike the for-profit sector, there is a long lag in time from when a charity completes its fiscal year and when it files its Form 990. In fact, many charities file their 990 eight months to a year after their fiscal year ends.7 So, although our analysis is based on the most current data publicly available, 80% of the data for this study is taken from the charities’ 2007 fiscal year ending. As such, the impact of the recession on the average charity CEO pay will not be seen until future studies.”
