December 17, 1998 | Read Time: 4 minutes
Median salaries at U.S. foundations grew by 5 per cent this year, outpacing inflation for the third 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 the rate for the previous three years, says the council’s latest compensation survey.
Chief executives at all types of foundations received a median salary of $85,000 in 1998, compared with $84,000 last year. The median is the level at which half earn more and half earn less.
The survey is based on data from 581 community, family, independent, and public foundations and 86 corporate grant makers, which together held charitable assets of nearly $140-billion in 1997.
The salary gains, which reflect increases made or planned for this year, exceeded the inflation rate of 1.5 per cent for the 12-month period ending in October.
Forty-one per cent of foundations (excluding those operated by companies) provided use of an automobile, a club membership, supplemental vacation time, or at least one similar perk exclusively to their top executives, compared with 51 per cent last year, the survey also found.
Among the survey’s highlights:
Chief executives. At the largest independent foundations — those with assets of at least $1- billion — chief executives salaries ranged from $130,000 to $540,000, with a median figure of $306,000.
At the smallest — those with assets of less than $5-million — the median salary was $50,000. At independent foundations with assets of $5-million to $9.9-million, chief executives had a median salary of $46,500.
The median salary for top executives of independent foundations was $110,300, compared with $67,000 for community foundations. Community foundations are charities that raise and distribute money, usually in one geographic area.
Salaries for chief executives at community foundations have been growing faster than those at private foundations, however. Inflation-adjusted salaries for top executives rose 17.4 per cent from 1994 through 1998 at community foundations, compared with a rise of 13.6 per cent at private foundations.
The salary of executives who were their foundations’ only full-time staff member ranged from $20,820 to $115,000, with a median level of $49,700.
Chief financial officers. The median salary for treasurers, or chief financial officers, was $75,000.
At community foundations, chief financial officers earned a median salary of $51,900, and at independent foundations, the median salary was $113,300. At independent foundations with assets of $1-billion or more, the median was $173,300.
Program officers. Inflation-adjusted salaries rose 8.9 per cent at private foundations from 1994 to 1998 but declined 3.3 per cent at community foundations.
Program officers earned a median salary of $60,197 in 1998. Those at community foundations earned $42,000; at corporations, $50,000; at independent foundations, $72,000; and at public foundations, $45,800.
Bonuses. About 27 per cent of grant makers awarded bonuses to their staff members in 1998. At about 75 per cent of institutions, all staff members were eligible for bonuses.
At about 8 per cent, only the chief executive was eligible for a bonus, and at about 6 per cent of grant makers, only professional staff members were eligible. The amounts of the bonuses were based variously on a percentage of salary, length of service, merit, or other factors.
Besides compensation data, the survey includes gender and other demographic information about foundation employees.
Black men and women hold 3.9 per cent of chief executive jobs. Women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds hold 49.9 per cent of the top jobs.
Women make up 75.1 per cent of full-time paid foundation staff members and about 66 per cent of non-clerical staff members. Neither figure has changed significantly in recent years.
Roughly half of foundation chief executives are women. More than 70 per cent of top executives in corporate-giving programs are women, as are 54 per cent of the leaders of community foundations. But women are in the minority in the top ranks of public and independent foundations, where they constitute 42 per cent and 38 per cent of chief executive officers, respectively.
Women constitute 68 per cent of full-time paid program officers. At corporate grant makers they make up nearly 90 per cent of program-officer positions, and at public foundations, 82 per cent.
More than 90 per cent of all foundation support-staff positions are held by women.
About 60 per cent of grant-making programs with assets of less than $50-million are headed by women, but women head only 36 per cent of foundations with assets of $100-million or more.
Members of racial and ethnic minorities hold 5.9 per cent of top-executive jobs, up from 4.1 per cent in 1994 but down from 6.4 per cent last year.
Copies of the 1998 Grantmakers Salary Report are available from the Publications Department, Council on Foundations, P.O. Box 98293, Washington 20090; (888) 239-5221. The price for members is $70, plus $7 for postage and handling. For non-members it is $110, plus $9 for postage and handling.
