By Heather Joslyn

Far fewer grant makers gave their employees raises in 2009 than in the previous year, according to a new survey of compensation at community, corporate, family, and private funds by the Council on Foundations, in Arlington, Va.

The study showed that 56.1 percent of organizations surveyed gave raises to their workers in 2009, a big drop from the 87.6 percent of groups that did so in 2008.

Among all foundation employees in the survey, the median salary increase was 3 percent, meaning that half received bigger increases and half received smaller raises or nothing at all.

Over all, top foundation leaders made a median salary of $140,250 in 2009.

A comparison of data from the most recent survey of grant-making institutions, and the council’s previous studies dating back to 2005, show that chief executives’ pay at private foundations has risen at an inflation-adjusted rate of 4.8 percent between 2005 and last year. During the same time period, CEO's at community foundations saw their pay rise 13.5 percent, adjusted for inflation.

During the same period, program officers at private foundations saw their pay rise by 2.1 percent, and their peers at community foundation saw their pay rise by 9.8 percent. (Both figures are adjusted for inflation.)

Slowing Turnover

The report surveyed more than 770 organizations, representing more than 7,600 full-time, salaried employees. In addition to gathering data about pay and benefits, the study kept track of how many women and minorities were employed by grant makers.

• The median salary for program officers was $78,000.
• Only 44 percent of all chief executives surveyed were working under a written employment contract.
• Women held 56.2 percent of all chief-executive roles and nearly 73 percent of all program-officer jobs. Minorities held 7.6 percent of top-leader jobs and made up 35.6 percent of program officers.
• As in the 2008 survey, leaders and employees at grant makers in the Midwest earned the least. In 2009 Midwesterners made a median salary that was 10.1 percent lower than the national median for all positions.
• Perhaps not surprisingly in a shaky job market, employee turnover has slowed. The rate for 2009 was 10.9 percent, down from 12.4 percent the previous year. One quarter of the CEO’s in the survey were hired from within their organizations.
• The study also revealed signs of belt-tightening. Nearly 60 percent of foundations covered 100 percent of their employees’ health benefits, but that percentage was down from 2008, when nearly two-thirds of organizations said they had done the same.

Copies of the “2009 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Report: Highlights and Salary Tables” are available on the Council on Foundations Web site. This summary is free to council members and $55 for nonmembers. The full report will be available in June. Go to: http://www.cof.org/store.