Budget size and CEO compensation: The bigger the better

• Published date: 01 March 2017
• Date: 01 March 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30432

2017 Nonprofit Executive Compensation Report 5

DOI 10.1002/ban© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company All rights reserved

Budget size and CEO compensation:

The bigger the better

Probably the best way for the nonprofit execu-

tive to earn more money is to manage an orga-

nization with a larger budget. In this chart, note

several interesting facts:

• CEOs with the smallest budgets ($3 million

and under) earn salaries that range from $77,270

to $90,000 on average.

• CEOs who manage organizations with the

biggest budgets are earning a lot relative to other

administrators. For instance, executive direc-

tors who run organizations with a budget size

of $10–20 million make $144,634 on average,

while those executives who manage a budget of

more than $20 million take home pay that tops

$145,000.

• Not surprisingly, the CEOs who manage the

bigger budgets also supervise many more employees

at their organizations. This also helps explain the

higher pay, as they manage more complex organiza-

tions in terms of programs and personnel issues. ■

Budget and pay

Budget

Percentage

Responded

Average

Salary

Median

Salary

Years of

Experience

Years in

Current

Position

Raise

Past 12

Months

Raise

Next 12

Months Bonus

Fringe

Benefits

Board

Size

Full-

Time

Staff

Part-

Time

Staff

$500,001–$1 million 3% $90,000 $90,000 11 5 3% - $5,000 $6,700 13 2 2

$1–$2 million 13% $83,973 $83,675 29 25 3% 2% $1,500 $8,825 10 9 7

$2–$3 million 11% $77,270 $77,500 38 25 3% 3% $6,000 $23,231 13 35 31

$3–$6 million 19% $111,606 $108,000 24 14 3% 3% $3,650 $11,582 12 53 27

$6–$10 million 16% $116,663 $115,000 25 16 4% 3% - $13,130 11 99 22

$10–$20 million 25% $144,634 $146,000 33 22 3% 3% $7,000 $26,625 16 175 55

>$20+ million 13% $145,300 $158,000 25 8 3% 3% $7,500 $28,502 17 344 96