Gap Between Men’s and Women’s Pay Continues in Latest GuideStar Report

JOB MARKET

By Harvy Lipman

Female executives at nonprofit organizations continue to be paid less than men in similar jobs, according to an annual survey by GuideStar, a nonprofit

group that distributes information about charities.

The pay gap is greatest among the largest nonprofit groups. Among those with annual budgets of more than $50-million in 2000, the median salary for male chief executive officers was 46 percent higher than that for women, the study found. At smaller organizations, the gap ranged from 14 percent for those with annual budgets of $1-million to $5-million to 24 percent for those operating on $25-million to $50-million a year. The gap between men’s and women’s compensation in this year’s study is virtually identical to the one found in GuideStar’s first survey of salaries, released last year, which looked at differences in pay in 1998 and 1999 (The Chronicle, May 31, 2001).

Female chief executives not only are paid less, GuideStar found, but they are also less likely to hold top posts at large nonprofit organizations. Only 25 percent of organizations with budgets of $5-million or more were headed by female chief executives. The study found 9,744 groups in that category and was able to identify the sex of about 80 percent of the chief executives.

Women working in other top positions, such as development director, chief legal officer, chief administrator, and chief financial officer, also typically were paid less in 2000 than their male counterparts.

The findings are part of the “GuideStar 2002 Nonprofit Compensation Report.” GuideStar is the operating name of Philanthropic Research, a nonprofit organization in Williamsburg, Va., that focuses on making the Form 990 informational tax returns filed by charities widely available to the public. The study is based on a computerized analysis of tax returns filed for the 2000 fiscal year by more than 65,000 nonprofit groups that listed at least one paid employee.

In addition to comparing salaries based on the size of organizations’ budgets, the 2002 report also breaks out salaries based on geographic location and the type of nonprofit activity in which groups are engaged.

It found significant pay variations among different types of nonprofit groups of similar budget size, with organizations focused on scientific and medical research generally paying the highest salaries and those involved in human services, housing, and anti-hunger efforts paying the lowest. For example, the median salary for a chief executive officer with a human-services organization operating on a budget of less than $500,000 annually was $34,506, meaning that half were paid more and half less. The median for a top executive of a medical research group with a similar-sized budget was $47,299.

The geographic location of a nonprofit organization had less of an impact, however. The typical chief executive of a small arts group (with an annual budget of less than $500,000) in New York City was paid $35,271, while the head of such a group in Montgomery, Ala., made $36,167.

The report is available in a portable document format. Copies sent via e-mail cost $299 each; a CD-ROM, $339. Print versions can be obtained for $559 apiece. Members of the news media and academic scholars receive a 50-percent discount, as do nonprofit groups that register as participants with GuideStar — providing information about their programs to be published on the organization’s Web site. An order form is available on the GuideStar Web site. For more information, contact: GuideStar Customer Service Department, 427 Scotland Street, Williamsburg, Va. 23185; (800) 421-8656; npocompensation@guidestar.org.