Three strategies for getting the raise you deserve

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30421
• Published date: 01 March 2017
• Date: 01 March 2017

March 2017 • Volume 33, Number 7 5

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

Three strategies for getting the raise

you deserve

What is your strategy when it comes to proving

you deserve a higher salary? Here are three ideas

one Vermont administrator recommends you try:

1. Promote yourself when engaged with the

board, but do it subtly. “Use the opportunity

when making a presentation to the board to pro-

mote yourself without coming right out and ask-

ing for a pay increase,” this administrator said.

By doing this, and looking good in front of the

board, you are letting your work speak for itself

and thereby impress the board.

Too often, boards can take the CEO’s work for

granted, so if you are updating the board on the

state of the budget and are delivering positive

news, let that work in your favor.

2. Understand that board members often

have short memories. “What the administra-

tor should do is to keep a sheet of notes and any

time you do something that makes your organiza-

tion successful and can quantify that with dol-

lars, jot that down,” this CEO said.

The Vermont administrator calls this running

list of accomplishments her “pink sheet.”

“Do that over the course of the year and during

your performance appraisal process you will have

plenty of meat on that sheet,” she said. After a

year or two of doing this, the administrator will

also have plenty of concrete results with which to

remind the board during your presentations.

“The big thing board members here enjoy hearing

about is saving money,” she said. So, for instance, if

in lieu of hiring a full-time employee you hired two

part-time workers you can remind the board that

you saved the organization money on benefits.

Or, if you have developed new ways of doing

business with suppliers who provide their ma-

terials to the organization at less cost or have

changed the telephone service to reduce operating

expenses, point that out to your board members.

3. Put yourself in the shoes of your board

members. This administrator has served on

other boards, which has enabled her to consider

issues from a board member’s point of view. This

service has given her insight into what board

members like to see in their CEO, and how this

can help an executive increase his or her pay.

“You put yourself into the head of a board

member with the understanding that a board

member is not a paid employee,” she said. “They

serve to do good, not for compensation.”

While the CEO spends his or her working life at

the organization, board members do not. They spend

a small amount of time there, and see the work of

the organization in snapshots. So, the administrator

needs to understand this and filter the information

in such a way that he or she is giving board mem-

bers the type of information they want to hear.

“Just remember, each time you make a presen-

tation to your board, you are being evaluated,”

she said. “Give it your best without actually

sounding like you are promoting yourself.”

Editor’s note: Be sure to take a close look at

the 2017 Report on Nonprofit Executive Compen-

sation included with this issue. ■

Three ‘rules’ govern board members

who want jobs

It’s a fact of life that people will lose their jobs.

Some of those people might be your board mem-

bers, who may think it’s a good idea for your

nonprofit to hire them.

This is a bad idea, but if the board member in-

sists, you need to have a way to handle it. Here’s

what The Board Doctor recommends you propose

to the board chair or full board if a trustee places

you in this position:

1. The board member should resign from the

board.

2. Apply a lengthy waiting period. Before a

former board member can apply for a position, he

should be off the board for at least one year.

3. The board member should recognize that his

application will be treated just like any other. ■