Foundation Employees Saw Salaries Rise by 5 Per Cent, New Survey Finds

Median salaries at U.S. foundations rose by 5 per cent this year,

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Salaries and Benefits at Foundations

outpacing inflation for the fourth year in a row, according to a new report by the Council on Foundations.

At corporate foundations and company-run giving departments, the median increase for all employees was 4 per cent, matching increases posted over the past four years.

The salary gains, which reflect increases that had been made or were planned for this year, exceeded the inflation rate of 2.6 per cent for the 12-month period ending in September.

Chief executives at all types of foundations received a median salary of $88,200 in 1999, compared with $85,000 last year. The median is the level at which half earn more and half earn less. Program officers at all types of foundations earned $61,585, compared with $60,197 last year.

Employees who hold the positions of chief executive officer/chief giving officer or program officer accounted for 25 per cent of all full-time staff members.

The survey is based on data from 93 corporate grant makers and 652 community, family, independent, and public foundations, which typically raise money to distribute in specific program areas. Together, those funds held charitable assets of almost $140-billion in 1998 and distributed $7.6-billion in grants that year.

Median salaries in the Northeast were 9.7 per cent higher, on average, than the national figures; in the Midwest they were 7.5 per cent lower.

Among other survey highlights:

Chief executives. At the largest private foundations — those with assets of $1-billion or more — chief executive salaries ranged from $88,400 to $497,500, with a median figure of $326,700. At the smallest — those with assets of less than $5-million — the median salary was $55,000. At private foundations with assets of $5-million to $9.9-million, chief executives had a median salary of $48,000.

The median salary for top executives of private foundations was $120,000, compared with $70,000 for community foundations. Community foundations are charities that raise and distribute money within a specific geographic area.

Among the 158 chief executives for whom 1998 deferred compensation figures were provided, the median amount of deferred compensation was $8,644, and the average was $14,311. The median bonus was $5,000 for the 101 top executives whose bonuses were reported; the average was $7,809.

Program officers. From 1995 to 1999, program-officer salaries increased by 13.9 per cent at private foundations and by 10.5 per cent at community foundations. Adjusted for inflation during that period, salaries rose 4.5 per cent for program officers at private foundations, but by only 1.3 per cent for those at community foundations.

Program officers at all types of foundations earned $61,585 in 1999. Those at private foundations had the highest salary: $72,000. They were followed by program officers at corporations, who earned $51,000; at public foundations, $49,707; and at community foundations, $42,000.

Chief financial officers. The median salary for all treasurers or chief financial officers was $78,871. Median salaries varied by region, from a high of $99,222 in the Northeast to a low of $75,000 in the South and in the West.

At community funds, chief financial officers earned $56,800, while at private foundations they earned $117,800. At private foundations with assets between $10-million and $50-million, the median salary was $60,400, while at those with assets of more than $1-billion, it was $182,000.

The compensation report also includes information on the gender, race, and ethnicity of 5,174 full-time employees.

Women constitute 75.2 per cent of all full-time paid staff members, and 66.4 per cent of all professional staff. They hold 52.2 per cent of all chief-executive positions, 70.1 per cent of the program-officer positions, and 92.4 per cent of support-staff positions. Those figures have not changed significantly in recent years.

Minority-group members of all races and ethnic backgrounds account for 21.7 per cent of all full-time paid employees and 17.8 per cent of all professional staff members. Minority chief executives head 5.4 per cent of the grant-making institutions — down from 5.9 per cent in 1998 and 6.4 per cent in 1997.

Corporate grant-making programs are significantly more likely to be headed by members of minority groups: 15 per cent reported a minority chief executive. They were followed by public foundations, with 5.2 per cent.

Members of minority groups account for 33.7 per cent of all program officers and 29.1 per cent of all members of support staffs.

Copies of the “1999 Grantmakers Salary Report” will be available next month from the Publications Department, Council on Foundations, P.O. Box 98293, Washington 20090; (888) 239-5221; http://www.cof.org. The price is $75 (plus $7 for postage and handling) for members and $120 (plus $12 for postage and handling) for non-members.