Foundation staff members earned a median of 8 percent more in 2015 than in 2011, a rate slightly ahead of inflation, says a new survey by the Council on Foundations.
But leaders’ compensation climbed fastest: Salaries for program officers rose only 2 percent, while salaries for foundation heads jumped 14 percent.
The annual study, published Tuesday, compiled data on more than 9,000 full-time employees at more than 950 foundations; it offers a snapshot of their demographic makeup as well as their pay. The salary comparisons between 2011 and 2015 came from a sample of 460 foundations that responded to the council’s last five surveys.
In 2015, the median reported annual salary for all full-time foundation positions was $76,905. The median salary for chief executives was $166,000. For program officers, it was $85,000.
The study was conducted last June with help from the Foundation Center.
Family foundations reported the highest median staff compensation ($94,500), while the median at community foundations was $63,000.
About 88 percent of foundations in the survey said they had increased salaries in 2014, and nearly 80 percent planned increases for 2015. (Participating organizations were asked to give pay figures as of February 1, 2015.)
The median salary increase for both last year and 2014 was 3 percent.
Gender, Race, and Age
The study also tracked the demographic makeup of grant-making staffs. Such organizations remain largely female: In 2015, more than three-quarters of foundation employees, and slightly more than half of chief executives, were women. But women were less likely to lead the largest grant makers: Of CEOs at foundations with assets of at least $1 billion, only two in five were women.
However, the latest report showed that the largest grant makers were more likely to be led by a person of color than were foundations over all. At funds with at least $1 billion in assets, 17 percent of CEOs were minorities, compared with 8 percent of foundation chief executives over all.
Among other findings:
- Minorities made up nearly a quarter of foundation staff members; the foundations with at least $2 billion in assets were operated by staffs that were 37 percent minority.
- Foundations are now being run by baby boomers and the oldest members of Generation X. About 59 percent of chief executives in the survey were age 50 to 64, and 19 percent were older.
- More than two in five chief executives had held their jobs for at least 10 years. The median tenure for program officers was three years.
- Nearly one in four foundation employees over all, and one in four chief executives, were promoted to their current job from within their organizations.