Several states are looking for ways to curb salaries for top executives at nonprofit organizations that receive government aid, writes The New York Times.
New Jersey’s recently passed budget includes a provision limiting pay for chief executives at charities the state hires to provide social services, part of a larger effort by Gov. Chris Christie to cut state salary costs.
Vermont legislators are seeking ways to limit pay at large nonprofit groups with state contracts, and New Hampshire’s attorney general is investigating compensation for nonprofit hospitals’ chiefs.
Federal lawmakers are also exploring the issue, with Sen. Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, asking the Treasury Department to review regulations governing executive pay at tax-exempt organizations.
In Congress, lawmakers are raising concern about the nearly $1-million in compensation paid to Roxanne Spillett, the leader of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and are seeking to withhold federal money from the organization. The head of the organization’s board said the attacks on Ms. Spillett’s pay were “offensive.”
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0 Responses to States Seek to Limit Nonprofit CEO Pay as Part of Budget-Cutting Efforts
charliebernstein - July 27, 2010 at 3:26 pm
When I see what CEOs of PRIVATE government contractors make, it’s almost enough to make me go into business! I guess nonprofits just don’t make the kind of campaign contributions for-profits make.Now excuse me while I go look up who contributes to Chris Christie and Charlie Grassley….
alanjabramson - July 27, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I think the greater abuse is probably nonprofit salaries that are too low. Government officials should be as concerned that nonprofits are paying decent salaries to their staff. At the least, public officials should insure that government payments to nonprofit contractors enable the nonprofits to pay their staffs adequately. High nonprofit salaries get the headlines and attract attention, but low nonprofit salaries may be an equal or even greater tragedy.
skreuzkamp - July 27, 2010 at 7:19 pm
In a world in which Congress allows hedge fund managers (some of whom rake in $1 billion a year) to pay only a 15% tax rate, I find their focus on nonprofit leaders’ salaries to be offensive. Yes, there have been some abuses, and those need to be addressed. But denying people who run large, effective nonprofits an appropriate salary is shameful. These nonprofits don’t have the lobbying power of big business nor the ability to pay into politicians’ campaign coffers.
dcspacone - July 28, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Amen alanjabramson,As a past Raiser’s Edge DBA for three non profits, your statement rings true. It rings true for most positions within the donor database support group.The donor database is and should be the most important piece of the Development toolbox but it is not treated that way in compensation.
rocketpreacher - July 29, 2010 at 12:03 am
If God put gold on this earth, oil on this earth and diamonds, then those who get rich from those are not screamed at so much as one or two higher paid nonprofit exectutives. Hello. Basketball players and Baseball players get millions of dollars. Entertainers get millions of dollars. Even some of those politicians with their pants always down in our government offices have earned questionably high salaries compared to the lack of actually getting one valuable thing done. In this situation Senator Grassley mind your own business! These CEO’s of nonprofits have as much a right as any of you fools in Washington to his pay package. Most of us who work in the nonprofit sector think wish we were paid what we were worth at least. I am a Republican and I don’t agree with this action by Sen. Grassley or by the state. It is most probable that the CEO package is not even part of the grants that your state was giving the company in the first place. It was for program functions that your state has often agreed to support. The only people suffering from your stupidity is the kids that Boy’s and Girl’s Club serves.