Pay raises and other forms of staff support have been ubiquitous at foundations amid the Covid pandemic, according to a new report, with 85 percent of grant makers saying they gave increases last year — and all of those surveyed saying they plan to give raises this year or have done so already.
Pay raises last year were “approximately in line” with inflation, according to the report by the Council on Foundations, which was based on a survey conducted early this year.
The median increase for 2021 was 3 percent, the same as the previous year.
After accounting for inflation, the median salary increase for all staff members from 2017 to 2020 was 3 percent. The inflation-adjust median increase was 4 percent for CEOs and 5 percent for program officers.
The annual compensation report, which was compiled using both surveys and interviews with select foundation officials, found a mixed bag in terms of whether the pandemic will permanently change the way grant makers operate.
“Some that were skeptical of a virtual workplace now find that a hybrid work environment can sustain staff and create new efficiencies for greater impact, while for others the desire for in-person work has only grown,” the report states.
Improvements on Diversity
Unlike last year’s report, which showed little progress in terms of diversifying foundation staff, the new report found signs of improvement. The percentage of people of color in the top leadership role rose from 10 percent to 12 percent. Forty percent of full-time program officers were people of color, up from 35 percent the year before, and 29 percent of all full-time staff members were people of color, up from 27 percent the previous year.
“Importantly, after years of stasis, we started to see foundations heed the call to diversify staff,” said Kathleen Enright, the council’s president. She added, “There’s still a long way to go.”
Enright said she expects to see improvements in diversity continue. Philanthropy may soon start experiencing the pandemic-induced “great resignation” that has already hit the business world. That would create an opportunity to hire and promote a more diverse staff, Enright said, but it would also pose challenges as experienced leaders heads for the exits.
The survey draws from responses by 952 grant makers, 919 of which provided salary data. The survey collected data on full-time employees for 36 of the most common positions at foundations. Kristen Scott Kennedy, chief of staff at the Council on Foundations, said the survey is voluntary so the results don’t reflect a random sample. She also noted that a year-to-year comparison, while valuable because of the large number of responses, should be interpreted with caution because there are differences in which grant makers choose to participate from year to year.
Other findings include:
- 45 percent of foundations said that all staff members were eligible for bonuses, and 25 percent reported that Covid was among the reason bonuses were awarded.
- The median salary for male CEOs was $215,780, compared with $180,300 for female CEOs, nearly the same as the previous year.
- Among the foundations that said staff members were eligible for bonuses, 91 percent awarded bonuses, in most cases to all staff members.
- 93 percent offered benefits to staff beyond those required by the government, such as paid leave.
Enright expressed frustration that no progress had been made in closing the gender gap.
“The trends in philanthropy often mirror the trends in society, and this is one of those cases where this is true,” she said. “This is one of those cases where we should be models for how the world should work.”
More Diversity
Another recent survey also found evidence of increasing diversity at grant makers. Change Philanthropy found that people of color accounted for 45 percent of the staff and board members at foundations in 2020. In 2018, the organization found that only 38 percent of the staff and board members at participating foundations identified as people of color.
People of color were most highly represented among program managers, at 56 percent.
Thirteen percent of grant maker staff were people with disabilities, compared with 6 percent in 2018. Carly Hare, national director of Change Philanthropy, noted that much of the increase likely was due to a broadening of the definition of disability to include mental health and chronic illness.
Nine percent identified as lesbian or gay, 5 percent as bisexual, 77 percent as heterosexual, and some identified as something else.
“Philanthropy continues to diversify in multiple arenas of identity,” Hare said. “We still have a lot of work to do.”
The survey results were drawn from 2,390 people at 124 grant makers. Most of the results were from private and community foundations, plus a small number of corporate grant makers. People who filled out the survey did not have to provide their names or identify where they worked.
