Demographics & Salary
Jun 13, 2011 by Marla Cornelius in Demographics & Salary
The following chart includes demographic information about the sample of the 3,067 executive directors who responded to the national Daring to Lead 2011 survey.
Satisfaction with Compensation
Over two-thirds (68%) of executive directors are satisfied with their compensation; 27% report being very satisfied and 41% report being somewhat satisfied. Ten percent (10%) are not at all satisfied and another 18% report being a little satisfied.
| Percentage of Executives in Range | ||
| Annual Salary Ranges | Executive Director Annual Compensation | Total Gross Annual Household Income |
| $0-30,000 | 10% | 3% |
| $30,001 to 50,000 | 13% | 5% |
| $50,001 to 75,000 | 28% | 14% |
| $75,001 to 100,000 | 22% | 19% |
| $100,001 to 150,000 | 18% | 27% |
| $150,001 to 200,000 | 6% | 18% |
| $200,001 + | 2% | 15% |
| *Excluding benefits and other non-monetary compensations | ||
| Percentage of Executives in Annual Salary Range by Operating Budget Size | |||||||||
| Salary Range | Operating Budget Size | ||||||||
| $0 – 25,000 | $25,001- 100,000 | $100,001-500,000 | $500,001-1 million | $1.1-3 million | $3.1-5 million | $5.1-10 million | $10.1-20 million | $20.1 million + | |
| $0 – 30,000 | 89% | 60% | 12% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| $30,001 – 50,000 | 7% | 27% | 33% | 8% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 2% |
| $50,001 – 75,000 | 3% | 11% | 41% | 48% | 21% | 9% | 2% | 0% | 0% |
| $75,001 – 100,000 | 2% | 2% | 11% | 33% | 41% | 27% | 16% | 14% | 2% |
| $100,001 – 150,000 | 0% | 0% | 3% | 8% | 30% | 51% | 57% | 37% | 31% |
| $150,001 – 200,000 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 6% | 9% | 19% | 30% | 36% |
| $200,001+ | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4% | 6% | 20% | 30% |
Gender Differences
Although women make up 71% of the entire sample, only 49% of organizations with budget sizes of $10-20 million and 42% with budget sizes of $21million or more are led by women. Because compensation is correlated to organizational size, and women tend to run smaller organizations, they are less likely to make higher salaries; although men are only 29% of the sample, they are 69% of those making $200,000 or more annually.
Socio-Economic Status
| Socio Economic Status | When Growing-up | Current |
| Upper Class | 2% | 2% |
| Upper Middle Class | 22% | 35% |
| Middle Class | 45% | 54% |
| Working Class | 26% | 8% |
| Poor | 6% | 1% |
Executive Director Demographics
| Executive Age | |
| <40 | 15.6% |
| 40-49 | 25.1% |
| 50-59 | 36.8% |
| 60+ | 22.5% |
| Executive Gender | |
| Women | 71% |
| Men | 29% |
| Executive Race/Ethnicity | |
| White | 82% |
| African American | 5% |
| Latino/a | 3% |
| A/Pacific Islander | 3% |
| Native American | .5% |
| Multi-racial | 2% |
| Other | 1% |
| Country of Origin | |
| United States | 93% |
| Other countries | 7% |
| Highest Education Level Completed | |
| High school | 6% |
| Bachelor’s | 34% |
| Master’s | 48% |
| PhD or other advanced degree | 13% |
| Due to rounding, some categories do not total 100%.
|
|
5 Responses to “Demographics & Salary”
Leave a Reply
-
Lynn Hagerman: It is correct to interpret from the first graph th...
-
Marla Cornelius: Agreed, the study does show that men are dispropor...
-
Marjorie Love, MSW: The topic of my graduate thesis (in 1983) was wome...
-
Name (required): Helen, I would be interested in talking to you. ...
-
Peaches Bass
05. Oct, 2011
I’m wondering if the gender wage gap applies to nonprofit EDs.
I would be interested in seeing the breakdownn of compensation for females and males. Is that available?
Thanks.
Marla Cornelius
11. Oct, 2011
Peaches,
We did find gender differences within compensation levels. Please note the section above that provides some information about salary difference.
Marla
Marjorie Love, MSW
22. Jan, 2012
The topic of my graduate thesis (in 1983) was women in social work management. I seem to remember that in eras when men dominated these management roles, the work was more highly paid. When women got more seats at the table, the jobs were “worth” less money. Your data about men currently holding most of the higher paying E.D. jobs (at the largest nonprofits) seems to confirm that, after almost 30 years, not much has changed.
Marla Cornelius
23. Jan, 2012
Agreed, the study does show that men are disproportionately represented in executive director roles of larger organizations, and therefore receiving higher salaries than executive directors of smaller organizations where the salaries tend to be lower. I think this is indeed an area that deserves more attention and conversation across our sector. Thanks for the post!
Marla Cornelius
Lynn Hagerman
26. Jan, 2012
It is correct to interpret from the first graph that the selection of ED in a nonprofit is an ‘auxiliary’ career, since the pay contributes such a small % to gross household income’? i.e. to be an ED one has to have a partner making the fundamental income for the household???
tx,