The Skinny
on CEO
Salaries
SL
Jobs, real estate and retirement accounts
weren’t the only casualties of the Great
Recession. The downturn in the economy
also led to a downturn in nonprofit executive compensation, finds a recent report
from GuideStar, a business intelligence
firm specializing in the nonprofit sector.
According to the 2011 GuideStar Nonprofit
Compensation Report — which features an
analysis of employee compensation practices as reported by approximately 88,000
501(c) organizations on IRS Form 990 for
fiscal year 2009 — median increases in
incumbent CEO compensation were generally 4 percent or higher in 2008. In 2009,
on the other hand, increases were generally 2 percent or less.
“It’s not surprising, even if it is disap-
pointing, that this down economy has
taken its toll on the compensation of our
sector’s leaders,” says Bob Ottenhoff,
president and CEO of GuideStar. “Given
that our employees are our sector’s great-
est assets, it’s more important than ever
to establish and benchmark compensa-
tion ranges that will attract and retain
skillful employees, which ultimately will
lead to higher-performing nonprofits.”
GuideStar also analyzed executive
compensation trends in gender, budget
size, program area and geography. Key
findings include:
• Median compensation of women con-
tinues to lag behind men. The gap
ranged from 13. 4 percent for CEOs at
organizations with budgets of $250,000
to $500,000 to 24.6 percent at organiza-
tions with budgets of more than $50
million. Since 1999, however, these
gaps have narrowed for most organiza-
tions. The notable exception is organi-
zations in the $1 to $5 million range,
where the gap has actually increased.
The Association Forum of Chicagoland 2011-
2012 Association Compensation and Benefits
Survey is now available!
To order your copy, visit associationforum.org, and click on "Careers,"
then "Compensation and Benefits Survey."
Social
Network
No-Nos?
EL
Before entering the job market, there are
a few tried-and-true rules every candidate
should know about. For instance, never
misspell the hiring manager’s name,
never eat garlic before a job interview
and always send a thank-you note.
Some job-search rules are meant to
be broken, however — even some of
the most sacred ones, like keeping your
online presence professional.
Although candidates are told time and
again to censor their social networking
profiles, the truth is: Hiring managers
rarely factor a job candidate’s social
media activity into final hiring decisions.
