Nonprofit CEO salaries on the uptick

• Published date: 01 December 2020
• Date: 01 December 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30893

DECEMBER 2020 NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

5

© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

Nonprot Research

Nonprot CEO salaries on the uptick

Nonprofit CEOs saw markedly higher salary

increases in FY 2018 compared to the year prior,

according to the latest data from Candid and Guide-

star, reverting to long-term trends that have seen

salaries gradually return to levels seen before the

Great Recession.

The data—included in the 2020 Nonprot Com-

pensation Report from Candid—show that median

compensation increases for CEOs in 2018 were even

with or higher than 2017 for nonprots in all budget

categories. Further, pay raises for female CEOs

outpaced those of their male counterparts in nearly

all budget bands: The one exception was for men

at organizations with budgets of $25 million to $50

million. That contrasts with 2017 salaries, which saw

male CEOs report salary increases well above female

CEOs in most budget categories (see box below.)

As in previous years, however, the higher annual

pay raises for female CEOs has done little to address

the broader gender pay gap that exists in the nonprot

sector. According to the report, female CEO pay aver-

aged anywhere from 5% to 20% less than comparable

male counterparts, depending on organization budget

categories. Generally, the higher the organizational

budget, the higher the annual raises for CEOs, and the

higher the gender pay gap. The gures for 2018 were

nearly identical to 2017, and even slightly worse than

in 2016, when the gender gap was 4% at organizations

with budgets of $250,000 or less.

Another key nding from the report: The number

of female nonprot CEOs continued to increase

in 2018 in six of the nine budget categories listed.

The most improvement on this front was reported

by organizations with budgets over $5 million, the

report found.

For more information, visit https://candid.org. ■

Median increase in incumbent CEO compensation by gender, 2016–2018

Budget Size 2016–2017 2017–2018

Women Men Women Men

$250k or less 0.3% 1.3% 1.3% 0.0%

Between $250k and $500k 0.7% 1.0% 2.4% 1.2%

Between $500k and $1 million 0.9% 0.9% 2.7% 2.4%

Between $1 million and $2.5 million 1.2% 1.6% 3.0% 2.6%

Between $2.5 million and $5 million 1.0% 2.0% 3.2% 2.9%

Between $5 million and $10 million 1.0% 2.1% 3.3% 3.2%

Between $10 million and $25 million 1.0% 2.0% 3.6% 3.4%

Between $25 million and $50 million 3.1% 0.1% 3.6% 4.4%

Greater than $50 million 0.2% 0.1% 4.0% 4.0%

Source: 2020 GuideStar Nonprot Compensation Report. ■

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