Nonprofit Executive Compensation Changes in 2009

A Chronicle of Philanthropy survey has found that nearly 3 in 10 of the leaders of the nation’s largest charities and foundations have taken pay cuts in the past year due to the recession. The Chronicle studied compensation at 325 large nonprofit organizations. In 2008 nonprofit executives saw a sharp increase in pay as opposed to a sharp drop in pay for for-profit executives. A lot of organizations are not cutting or freezing executive pay for fear that the executive will leave or not considering how the downturn in the economy will impact them. If an organization is struggling in the economic downturn and the executive is receiving pay raises, it could send a mixed message to donors.

The above is a summary of an article titled “Nearly 30% of Nonprofit Leaders Took a Pay Cut This Year; Pay in 2008 Grew Quickly” from The Chronicle of Philanthropy authored by Noelle Barton and Ben Gose, which can be found at the following website: http://philanthropy.com/free/articles/v21/i22/22000107.htm.