National Salary Survey Shows Women CEOs Closing Pay Gap
February 6, 2009 — While average CEO pay at nonprofits is expected to drop in 2009, women CEOs will see their pay increase while their male counterparts will experience a drop in incomes, according to a recently completed salary and benefits survey.
The survey, conducted by The NonProfit Times, found that female CEO pay will continue to lag what men are paid. In 2008, average female CEO was $95,874, or 70% of the $136,791 average paid to men. This year, women CEOs will earn an average of $98,068, up from 2008, about 74% of the $132,318 that men are expected to earn on average.
Average pay for five of 10 top nonprofit management jobs is expected to drop nationally this year, compared to 2008, with the other five expected to keep pace with inflation, the survey found.
Most of the drops in pay are small and range from 0.2% to 1.5%. Increases are expected to be about 2%.
By budget size, the highest average salary was among nonprofits with $1 million to $9,999,999 in gross revenue, with $119,432 for executive directors, the survey found. Each category expects the average to decline. The largest drop at 5.46%, is among groups with $10 million to $24,999,999 in revenue.
Executive directors at associations will have the highest average salary ($121,093), but last year the highest averages were at foundations ($120,587) and civic/culture organizations ($120,436). Only environment organization directors failed to reach six figures in average annual salary ($97,757) this year, according to The NonProfit Times.
In addition, program directors also look like they’ll do well in 2009, the survey said. In each geographic region, the average salary is expected to increase anywhere from almost 2% to 4%, with a high of 7.13% in the Southwest.
According to the report, “During the past three years, non-exempt pay and exempt pay have increased at about the same rate, according to 61% of responses. About 9% each said non-exempt pay is increasing faster while another 9% said exempt pay is increasing faster. Nearly 20% said they don’t know.
“Of the portion that said non-exempt pay is increasing faster, the average increase was 6.52%, while for those that said exempt pay is rising faster, the average was 7.31%. Several organizations cited minimum wage adjustments are affecting the range while another said increases were “due to meeting competitive forces.”
2008/2009 Average Pay
Following are the average salaries for 2008 and 2009, according to the survey:
- Executive Director/CEO/President – $114,456/$113,225
- Chief Financial Officer – $87,131/$86,673
- Program Director – $64,459/$66,335
- Development Director – $69,770/$72,586
- Planned Giving Officer – $78,138/$76,915
- Major Gifts Officer – $72,103/$71,472
- Chief of Direct Marketing – $66,909/$66,760
- Director of Volunteers – $41,288/$42,617
- Webmaster – $53,495/$54,663
- Director of Human Resources – $66,983/$68,462
This year’s highest average salaries for executive directors were found in the Southwest and West regions, at $124,308 and $122,956, respectively. According to the report, New England and the Mid-Atlantic had the lowest average salaries for executive directors among the seven regions in the survey, at $110,002 and $106,102, respectively.
Following are average 2008 salaries for the same positions for New England nonprofits.
- Executive Director/CEO/President – $111,345
- Chief Financial Officer – $80,628
- Program Director– $66,364
- Development Director – $72,963
- Planned Giving Officer – $62,500
- Major Gifts Officer – $71,645
- Chief of Direct Marketing – $61,730
- Director of Volunteers – $42,350
- Webmaster – $40,977
- Director of Human Resources – $63,827