Respondents

• The 2007 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Report is based on responses from 804 foundations and giving programs, which reported salaries for a total of 6,508 full-time employees. Of the 804 respondents, 60 are corporate grantmakers (foundations or direct giving programs) and 744 are community, private (family or independent), or public foundations. The participating organizations hold 36.8 percent of all foundation assets and were responsible for 28.4 percent of all grants made in 2005.
• For the first time, we collected data through an online version of the survey. Almost half of the respondents (48.9%, or 393 of 804) took the survey online.
• Thirty-five positions are covered in the salary and benefits report and the body of the report provides details on salaries for those positions. Chief executive officers/chief giving officers (CEO/CGO) and program officers account for 22.5 percent (1,462 of 6,508) of all full-time paid staff.

Salaries

• The median salary for a CEO/CGO was reported as $126,576 for 2007; the median salary for a program officer was $72,294. These salaries vary by size and type of grantmaker and by region of the country.
• Overall, median salaries in the Midwest are 7.9 percent lower than the national median for the same positions. Salaries in the Northeast are 12.3 percent higher.
• Years in position is not a strong predictor of salary for CEOs/CGOs, but has a slight effect on salaries for program officers.

Issues Specific to CEOs/CGOs

• Nearly half (45.5%) of noncorporate CEOs and more than half (56.9%) of CGOs are permitted to make discretionary grants.
• Eighty-nine percent of CEOs have a written position description, but only 40 percent of CEOs have employment contracts.
• Among the 139 CEOs for whom 2006 deferred compensation figures were provided, the median deferred compensation amount was $13,350. The median bonus was $8,444 for the 151 CEOs whose bonuses were reported. The median bonus was $20,000 for the 37 CGOs whose bonuses were reported.
• Virtually all of the corporate grantmakers (59 of 60 respondents) have a staff chief giving officer or grantmaking program director. Of those, 88 percent are full-time employees and 12 percent work part-time. Slightly more than half (51.7%) of all CGOs have duties within the parent corporation other than those related to the foundation/giving program. On average, CGOs spend 30 percent of their time on these additional parent corporation activities and 70 percent on foundation/giving program activities such as grantmaking, matching gifts, and employee volunteer programs.

Longitudinal Salary Analysis

• Between 2003 and 2007, there was little real growth in the panel of program officer salaries at private foundations: they experienced a 1.2 percent average salary increase after inflation (0.29% per annum), while their colleagues in the community foundation panel saw their salaries decrease -4.1 percent (-1.04% per annum).
• Between 2003 and 2007, program officer salaries had a nominal increase of 12 percent at private foundations (55 analyzed) and 6.6 percent at community foundations (43 analyzed).
• Between 2003 and 2007, overall CEO salaries increased by 17.3 percent in nominal terms at private foundations (169 were analyzed) and by 29.7 percent at community foundations (134 analyzed).

Staffing

• Grantmakers with $100 million or more in assets (or more than $5 million in grants for corporate grantmakers) employ 72.3 percent of the total staff reported, although they account for only 38.2 percent of all respondents. In aggregate, independent foundations tend to have larger staffs than any other type of grantmaker. The average staff size for independent foundations is 11.0. In general, staff size increases as assets grow.
• Corporate grantmakers have fewer employees designated full time to grantmaking functions than any other type of organization surveyed.

Gender and Race/Ethnicity of Staff

• Race/ethnicity and gender information was supplied for 6,128 full-time paid staff members, of whom 4,555 are professional-level staff (CEOs, program officers, and various other management positions).
• Women account for 76.2 percent of all full-time paid staff and 70.6 percent of all professional staff (including 55.7 percent of all CEO/CGO positions and 73.2 percent of program officer positions). Women hold 91.6 percent of support staff positions.
• Nearly one-quarter (23.3%, or 1,438 of 6,182) of the full-time paid staff reported are minorities. Blacks, who make up 11.5 percent (or 710) of staff, are the largest minority group reported by respondents. Hispanics and Asians/Pacific Islanders are the next largest groups, accounting for 5.5 percent (342) and 4.9 percent (304), respectively. Together, American Indians (29) and other minorities (53) account for 1.3 percent of reported staff.
• Minorities account for 6.9 percent of full-time paid chief executives and 32.3 percent of program officers reported in the survey.
• Not surprisingly, the more people a grantmaker employs, the higher the proportion of minorities—95 percent of the people of color work at a foundation with five or more staff. Nearly 37 percent of the 940 staff working at foundations with 50 or more staff are people of color.

Longevity of Service

• Full-time CEOs/CGOs have held their executive positions for an average of 8.5 years. Thirty-six percent have held the top position for ten years or more. Of all CEOs, those at private foundations report the longest average tenure in their positions. One-quarter (24.6%, or 175 of 712) of full-time top grantmaking executives advanced to their jobs from another position within their foundation or giving program.
• The 643 full-time program officers for whom information was provided have held their positions for an average of 3.7 years and have worked at the grantmaking organization for an average of 4.6 years. Only 5.4 percent (35 of 653) of program officers have held their positions for ten years or more.

Turnover

• Overall, the turnover rate was 12.7 percent. Family foundations had the lowest overall turnover rate. Public foundations had the highest rate of turnover, with community foundations second. In almost all instances, there was greater turnover in the support positions than the professional positions.

Salary Administration

• Most respondents—89.6 percent—granted salary increases in 2006, and 94.5 percent planned to award or had already awarded salary increases for 2007.
• Median salary increases in 2006 were 4 percent or more for all types of foundations except corporate grantmakers: 4 percent for community foundations, 5 percent for family foundations, 4.5 percent for independent foundations and 4 percent for public foundations. Corporate grantmakers reported median salary increases of 3.5 percent for 2006.
• Approximately one in three noncorporate grantmakers (34.6%) reported that employees were eligible for bonuses in 2006. Employees of family foundations were somewhat more likely than community, independent, and public foundation staff to be eligible for a bonus. Foundations with assets of $100 million or more (43.5%) are more likely to offer bonuses than foundations with under $50 million (25.8%).

Benefits

• Almost all of the respondents (97.2%) reported that their foundations offered full-time employees “voluntary” benefits in addition to required benefits such as FICA.
• Sixty-four percent of grantmakers cover 100 percent of the cost of the benefits they offer the employee as an individual; that is, the employee is not required to contribute to the cost of the benefit.
• The median cost of total staff benefits (required and voluntary) as a percentage of total salaries is 26.1 percent.
• Among the grantmakers that offer voluntary benefits, the majority (91.5%, or 603 of 659) offer retirement. The second most widely offered benefit is medical insurance, reported by 89.1 percent of the respondents. Medical and retirement benefits account for the highest percentage of total salary: The median costs for health, dental, vision care, and prescription drug insurance are 9.4 percent and costs for retirement are 8.1 percent. As a percentage of total voluntary benefits, they account for 48.5 percent and 41.1 percent, respectively.
• Among the grantmakers that offer a retirement plan and indicated the type of plan offered, 7.3 percent offer both a defined benefit and a defined contribution plan; 91.5 percent offer only a defined contribution plan or plans; and 1.2 percent offer only a defined benefit plan. Among grantmakers that offer defined contribution plans, over half (56%) invariably offer a 403(b) plan. When employers offer only a 403(b) plan, their maximum contributions range from 2 percent to 100 percent, with a median of 8 percent.
• More than half of all funders have part-time employees (57.7%). About one-quarter (23.7%, or 90 of 380) of grantmakers with part-time staff do not offer those staff any benefits, not even paid leave; and 12.9 percent offer them only paid leave. Sixty-three percent of respondents with part-time employees provide them with benefits other than paid leave.
• Slightly over one in four grantmakers (25.4%, or 175 of 688) has retired employees. Whereas more than half (57.4%) of the 169 respondents with retirees do not offer them benefits, 42.6 percent do offer retiree benefits.
• One in five respondents (20.6%) indicated that their foundation extends benefits to the unmarried domestic partners of employees. The majority (80.5%) offered domestic partner benefits to both same and opposite sex couples, and more than three-fifths (62.4%) of the respondents indicated that they require proof of domestic partnership. Thirty-seven respondents that do not currently offer domestic partner benefits are considering adopting such a policy.

Cost of Medical Coverage

• Most foundations (64.2%) cover 100 percent of the health benefits cost for the employee alone. When they do ask the employee to contribute, the employer covers about 87 percent of the cost. Most respondents ask the employee to contribute something (generally 20%) toward the premium for others covered by the health plan.
• Overall, the annual median deductible is $500 for the single coverage and $1,000 for family coverage. Before the medical plan covers a portion of the covered expenses, a community foundation employee must meet a deductible of $1,500 for dependents. By contrast, the family deductible is $825 for staff at public foundations.
• Community, small-staffed foundations, and those with less than $10 million in assets have medical plans that are significantly higher in costs to the employee for the various plan elements. Conversely, the medical plans favored by family, independent, and public foundations, and foundations with more than $10 million in assets cost the employee less for the plan features.

Small-staffed Foundations

• For 79 respondents, the CEO is the only full-time staff person. The range of CEO base salaries reported for these single-staffed organizations is $26,000 to $145,000, with a median salary of $72,335 and a mean of $73,809. Thirty-four of the 79 CEOs are employed in community foundations (their median salary is $55,200).
• Ninety respondents reported pay for a full-time CEO plus one additional staff person. The range of CEO base salaries at foundations with two full-time staff is $32,000 to $339,000 with a median salary of $100,000 and a mean salary of $105,782.

Conflict of Interest Policy

• Eighty-two percent of foundations have a written conflict of interest policy for staff members; up from 74 percent in 2006. Private foundations were less likely to have a policy than community or public foundations. Among foundations with a written conflict of interest policy, 86 percent require staff to sign conflict of interest disclosure statements.
• Among those foundations with a written conflict of interest policy, 54.4 percent prohibit the acceptance of gifts, remunerations, or services from grantees or applicants, and 20.9 percent require the disclosure or such gifts or services. Ninety percent prohibit or require the disclosure of service on the boards of grantees or applicants, and 91 percent prohibit or require the disclosure of a staff or family member affiliation with grantees or vendors.

Corporate Grantmakers

• To improve both the response rate and the usefulness of the salary report for corporate foundations and direct giving programs, a separate survey instrument was used for the 12th year—the 2007 Corporate Grantmakers Salary Survey. We received 60 responses.
• The report analyzes issues specific to managers (CGOs) of corporate giving programs. These include the title of the top staff executive, the person to whom the CGO reports, other giving responsibilities, other corporate responsibilities, bonuses, and discretionary grantmaking.

Family Foundations

• Salary reporting for family foundations covers ten positions—CEO, program director, senior program officer, program officer, program associate, program assistant, executive assistant, grants manager/administrator, administrative assistant, and secretary.

New Features

• In 2004, we added a grants management assistant position to the survey. Respondents reported 75 positions this year.
• In 2004, for the first time, we included the 25th percentile and the 75th percentile on the compensation summary tables for each of the four grantmaker types.
• In 2005, the number of asset groups for reporting salaries at community foundations was expanded to include $500 million or more.
• Two positions, clerk and data entry associate/clerk, were eliminated in 2006.
• For many years, we have provided a table that presents median salaries for all grantmaker types by position for the four U.S. census regions (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West). In 2006, we added four new tables that present the 25th percentile, median, mean, 75th percentile, and range for all positions, for each of the four regions.
• In 2006, we added four new tables related to CEOs/CGOs and program officers. These are the two most frequently reported professional positions and represent the largest percentage of staff employed by grantmakers. Staff in these two positions for 2007 makes up 22.5 percent (1,462 of 6,508) of all full-time paid staff whose salaries were reported. The four new tables both aggregate and expand on data displayed in a more disaggregated fashion in the salary tables in Chapter 6. There is a table each for CEO/CGO salaries and program officer salaries by grantmaker type and asset group, including the 25th and 75th percentiles and a table each for CEO/CGO salaries and program officer salaries, including the 25th and 75th percentiles, by the 13 U.S. census regions.
• This year, we added five new tables presenting full-time staff race/ethnicity data—by grantmaker type and asset size, by type of staff (the 26 professional positions and the 9 administrative positions), by staff grouping (executive, program, finance, etc.), by region, and by staff size.
• Beginning with the 2007 survey, we have moved our benchmarking surveys to an online (web) platform enabled by Peerfocus. Among other features, our use of Peerfocus allows survey participants to benchmark themselves against their peers, by grantmaker type, asset size, state or region, or other breakdowns of utility to grantmakers in understanding the practices within their world. The benchmarking tool is available exclusively to online survey participants. With this tool, they are able to compare themselves against the richest source of staff compensation data in the field, representing 51 percent of the salaries of all full-time staff in the foundation universe.
• Also beginning with this year’s survey report, the names of respondent organizations are no longer held in confidence. See Appendix E for a list of the 804 grantmakers providing data used to produce this report.