October 13, 2005 | Read Time: 4 minutes
Women who run America’s largest charities have won big increases in pay, but they still earn far less than men in similar jobs, according to a new survey.
The study, based on the 2003 informational tax returns of more than 83,000 nonprofit groups, found
that the median compensation paid to female chief executive officers at charities with budgets of $50-million or more rose to $262,275, 42 percent more than in 2002.
Men in similar jobs won increases of 17 percent, to $332,985. At charities with budgets between $25-million and $50-million, compensation for women in the top spot grew 35 percent from 2002 to 2003, while income for men in the same position rose 11 percent.
In addition to earning less than men for performing similar jobs, women were far less likely to work at the larger organizations.
At the nonprofit organizations with budgets of $50-million or more, six men held chief-executive spots for every one female chief executive.
The findings are part of the “2005 GuideStar Nonprofit Compensation Report.” GuideStar is a nonprofit organization that puts online the informational tax returns that charities must file with the Internal Revenue Service.
The returns require charities to provide compensation information on their top officials, but do not require them to provide the executives’ gender. GuideStar staff members identified the gender of more than 80 percent of the people included in the study.
Gender disparities existed not only in chief executives’ salaries, but also in those of many other nonprofit workers at organizations of all sizes, the study found. With few exceptions, men holding the top posts in the departments of business, development, education, finance, and programs earned more than women in those same posts.
Even at the smallest charities — with budgets of $250,000 or less — where female employees outnumbered male employees in most positions, women still earned less. Women were twice as likely to hold the top financial job at these small organizations, for example, but in 2003 earned a median income of $26,221, more than $7,000 less than men in the same spot that year. The median shows the point where half the people in the survey make less and half make more.
The report also includes information on compensation at different kinds of charities, as well as compensation by location.
Charities that focus on health care, medical research, and education tended to pay their executives the most. Pay at human-service, housing, and animal-related charities tended to rank near the bottom of the scale.
Salaries also varied greatly depending on an organization’s size. Chief executive officers at arts groups with budgets between $1-million and $5-million, for example, earned a median of $88,584, less than half of what their counterparts made at arts organizations with budgets greater than $5-million.
Geographic location does not appear to affect compensation practices as much as does the gender of employees and the size and type of charities. Chief executive officers at arts groups with budgets of $500,000 or less, for example, made about the same in Columbus, Ohio, as they did in New York City.
Keeping Pace
The figures in the latest report show that many, but not all, nonprofit salaries have been keeping pace with inflation. The median salary for top development officers at the smallest charities — those spending $250,000 or less each year — was $34,071 in 2003, 8 percent more than what they earned in 2000 after adjusting for inflation. During the same time, chief fund raisers at the biggest groups — those spending $50-million or more — got increases of 9 percent, to $157,816, based on 2000 salaries calculated in 2003 dollars.
But at the mid-sized charities, organizations with budgets between $1-million and $2.5-million, for example, the top fund raisers earned a median of $63,265 in 2003, down slightly from 2000 when inflation is taken into account.
Top program officers at those mid-sized charities also did not fare well over the years, as their median salary in 2003 — $62,700 — was slightly less than their 2000 pay adjusted for inflation. At the same time, their counterparts at the biggest charities saw their median earnings grow about 6 percent to $145,402.
GuideStar’s report costs $299 if sent by e-mail; a CD-ROM version costs $339. Nonprofit organizations that register as participants with GuideStar and provide information about their programs to be published on the organization’s Web site receive a 50-percent discount. Reports on salary data in specific states or regions are also available.
Orders can be made through GuideStar’s Web site, http://www.guidestar.org. For more information, send an e-mail to npocompensation@guidestar.org or call GuideStar at (800) 421-8656.
