The Foundation Administrator: A Study of Those Who Manage America's Foundations

Chapter 5. The Compensation Practices of Foundations: Staff Compensation and Fringe Benefits

5 The Compensation Practices of Foundations: Staff Compensation and Fringe Benefits For purposes of comparison and discussion, the study's directors, as noted earlier, established ten categories of positions in addition to that of chief executive, gathering the almost infinite variety of specific titles under general labels designed to be functionally descriptive.1 In this second chapter on compensation, the salaries of all executive staff persons other than chief executives are examined according to their categories. Also included in the discussion are such data as have been collected on the remuneration of trustees. Another section of the chapter is devoted to practices relating to fringe benefits, but here all foundation personnel is included in the discussion . The table which follows (Table 41) shows salary ranges for people occupying next to the highest position in the various kinds of foundations. Broadly speaking, these persons, termed deputy chief executive officers by the study, discharge many of the same functions as the chief executive, sometimes covering a wide range of duties and in other cases focusing on a few aspects of the chief executive's job. Their actual titles may be vice 1 For the convenience of the reader, the earlier listing of these categories in Chapter 2 is repeated. They are: deputy chief executive officer, senior secretarial officer, senior financial officer, senior secretarial-financial officer, junior secretarial-financial officer, senior program officer, junior program officer, internal administrative officer, communications /information officer, staff specialist. 85 ()l Q\ Table 41. Average Salaries of Full-Time and Part-Time Deputy Chief Executives" Percentage of Family time devoted General Family Family Companyto foundation Purpose Supportive Operating Community Sponsored 100 $38,104 $11,571 $23,740 $18,500 $29,350 (Range: 55,000- (Range: 20,000- (Range: 40,000- (Range: 25,500- (Range: 34,70013 ,800) 4,200) 7,200) 15,000) 24,000) 66-99 -14 ,50Q -- - - -- (Range: 21,3007 ,200) 33-65 -19 ,080 - 3 ,000 - - (Range: 40,4003 ,000) Under 33 -4 ,350 -2 ,400 -- (Range: 7,5001 ,200) (F = 1,200)** * In the presentation of data on the salaries of executives below the chief executive officer level, reference to asset sizes of foundations has been omitted. ** F = female. Wherever information is available, average salaries of female incumbents are shown separately. Compensation Practices: Staff Compensation and Fringe Benefits / 87 president, associate director, executive vice president, or one of half a dozen others. In comparing the salaries of deputy chiefs in general purpose and supportive family foundations, it is apparent that, as in the case of chief executives, the general purpose foundations provide higher salary levels but with greater ranges than are evident in the supportive foundations. Here, again, salaries seem to have little direct relation to the amount of time the person spends on the job, with instances of higher salaries for part-time than for full-time work. Incumbents of the rank of deputy chief executive in the family operating, community, and company-sponsored foundations are rare. But when these positions exist, their salaries compare favorably with those of deputy chief executives in general purpose foundations. The next position identified is that of senior secretarial officer, usually called "secretary" by the foundation in which he or she is employed (see Table 42). Salary levels for senior secretarial staff in general purpose and supportive foundations appear to be about the same. In supportive foundations , there are a number of part-time secretaries, quite a few of whom are women. There are relatively few data on salaries of senior secretarial officers in family operating, community, and company-sponsored foundations. Such data as are available indicate that salaries of these staff members conform with those of family general purpose and supportive foundations. In parallel posts in the financial area are individuals bearing the titles of treasurer, financial vice president, and investment manager, all of whom are grouped under the category of "senior financial officer" (see Table 43). As in the case of the senior secretarial officers, these people are concentrated in the family general purpose and family supportive foundations. Wide variations are apparent in their pay scales. This is true even in general purpose foundations where, it might be assumed, more systematic attention is given internal administrative matters and where, therefore, one would expect less variation in salaries for this office. Here, there are three instances of women receiving the lowest salary. In two other instances female incumbents are at the top of the...