How The Chronicle’s Survey of Pay at Big Nonprofit Groups Was Conducted

The Chronicle’s 14th annual salary survey presents compensation information for top officials at 332 charities and foundations in the United States.

Most of the organizations included on the list appeared last year on the Philanthropy 400, The Chronicle’s

annual list of charities that raise the most money in private donations, or are among the nation’s wealthiest foundations.

Several organizations that did not appear on the Philanthropy 400 were included because they fall into categories that are not heavily represented among the biggest fund-raising organizations. In those cases, The Chronicle sought salary information from groups that raised nearly enough money to appear on the list.

To determine which foundations to include, The Chronicle drew on its annual survey of grant makers, as well as information from the Foundation Center and the Columbus Foundation’s survey of community foundations that raised the most money last year. The survey includes 57 private foundations, 16 operating foundations, and 17 community foundations.

In addition, The Chronicle surveyed the heads of several watchdog and trade associations that focus on charities and foundations

To gather compensation data, The Chronicle asked officials at each nonprofit group to complete questionnaires and provide supporting information from their most recent Forms 990, the informational tax returns charities are required to file with the Internal Revenue Service, or Forms 990-PF, the equivalent returns for grant makers. The Chronicle also asked the organizations to send audited financial statements and annual reports for the 2005 fiscal year or the most recent year available.

The survey questionnaire asked about details not available on the Form 990 or Form 990-PF, such as how much money was awarded in bonuses, housing allowances, health insurance, and retirement and other payments.

Top Officials

The survey contains information on the organizations’ top officials — those with such titles as chief executive, president, or executive director. The Chronicle also sought information about the employee other than the chief executive whose compensation was the highest. The Chronicle requested that organizations exclude employees whose compensation was inflated due to a one-time payment such as severance or a pension payout.

While 75 groups had the IRS’s permission to file their tax returns late, 47 of those organizations provided the most current compensation data. Twenty-seven groups said the most recent information they had available was from the 2004 fiscal year.

Eleven religious organizations provided financial data for this survey, even though such organizations are not required to publicly disclose such information.

Two religious groups — the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers) and Mission to the World — declined to provide information. Campus Crusade for Christ provided a financial statement for the 2005 fiscal year but did not provide compensation information for their top two officials.

Two groups that are required to file Forms 990 did not respond to the survey, or provide their Form 990 to The Chronicle, even though they are required by law to make the forms public. Each 990 must list the compensation provided to its officers and to the group’s five highest-paid employees. The organizations were the Priem Family Foundation, in Fremont, Calif., and Futures Home Assistance Program, in Stockbridge, Ga.

Careful Comparisons

While the Chronicle survey attempts to show a comprehensive picture of top compensation at charities, it may not include all of the highest earners.

Some smaller nonprofit groups may pay their executives more money than the large organizations surveyed by The Chronicle.

For example, Catholic Healthcare West, in San Francisco, which ranked No. 234 in last year’s Philanthropy 400, paid its chief executive officer, Lloyd H. Dean, $1.26-million in the 2005 fiscal year, which would have made him the third-highest-paid executive in this survey.

However, the organization was not included in the survey because The Chronicle limited it to the 15 medical centers that raised the most, and Catholic Healthcare West was No. 21.

Other large organizations are not in the Philanthropy 400 because they do not raise enough money from private sources, and therefore would not be included in this survey.

Two organizations said they did not have a second full-time employee so they did not provide a salary beyond the chief executive’s: American Institute of Philanthropy, in Chicago, and the Broad Art Foundation, in Los Angeles.

Several organizations responded to the survey with best estimates because their 2005 IRS tax forms were not yet complete.

One-time circumstances — such as relocation costs, a bonus based on one year’s performance, or a retirement-plan contribution — can also account for significant changes in a person’s compensation or benefits.

For example, Kathy Cloninger, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of the USA, in New York, received $296,163 in benefits in 2005, compared with $25,495 in 2004. Last year she became eligible for the first time to receive contributions to the organization’s retirement plan.

Comparisons from year to year can also be tricky because some some chief executives were not on the job for a full year in 2004 or 2005.

In some cases, groups provided an annualized salary for executives who worked part of the year, but in other cases they did not. For example, at the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, Alba Martinez worked only one month during the 2004 fiscal year, which is why she was paid just $4,038 that year. Last year, her compensation was $217,600.

The Chronicle’s salary survey was compiled by Noelle Barton, Maria Di Mento, and Candie Jones, with assistance from Qahira El’Amin, Heather Joslyn, Sam Kean, and Sarah Ludwig.