22 • Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina
Careers
February 1994
Compensation in focus
Foundation salaries rise
by up to 5 percent
Pay hikes for North Carolina foun
dation empioyees will exceed
the overall rate of inflation this
year. The trend is in line with
national expectations about
foundation pay raises.
By Kyle Marshall
North Carolina foundations are
keeping 1994 salary increases in step
with recent history.
Since the niid-to-late-1980s, foun
dation employees have seen their
pay increased about 4 percent to 5
percent annually. The pattern
appears to he holding true tMs year,
both nationally and in North
Carolina.
“Last year it was about 5 percent,
and that’s roughly what we’re look
ing at again this year,” says Gayle
Williams Dorman, executive director
of the Mary Reynolds Babcock
Foundation in Winston-Salem.
A 5 percent salary increase is
more than enough to beat inflation.
Last year consumer prices rose by
just 2.7 percent, the smallest
increase since 1986, and that
increase follows several years of low
inflation.
Yet most fonndations don’t con
sider the lack of inflation to be an
excuse to keep a lid on compensation
increases. They want to make sure
they go beyond a simple cost-of-living
increase for their staff this year.
Raises last year were expected to
amount to an average of 5 percent
for most U.S. foundations, according
to the annual compensation survey
by the Council on Fonndations, a
Washington research and public poli
cy organization that promotes phil
anthropy.
That was the average expected
pay increase at independent, private
and community foundations, while
corporate foundations planned on an
average increase of 4.5 percent.
Their lower pay hikes generally
resnlt from the continued trend of
corporate belt-tightening.
In some instances, an employee
has done outstanding work or has
taken on extra responsibilities to
cover for an unfilled position, and the
foundation will recognize it with a
larger pay increase than would oth
erwise be the case.
That’s true for the Mary Reynolds
Babcock Foundation, where
Dorman’s predecessor, William
Bondurant, retired a year ago. Until
Dorman began in Angust as the new
executive director, the rest of the
small staff — five full-time employees
— had to pitch in to keep the founda
tion running smoothly.
“We recognized the extra work
that some of the staff had done dur
ing the transition from one executive
director to another,” in the form of
above-average pay increases and a
reclassification of one position that
resulted in greater compensation,
Dorman says.
The foundation’s board relied on
the findings of the Council on
Foundations survey before making
decisions on 1994 compensation.
In many other cases, staffers will
receive the same percentage
increase this year as last year.
The Z. Smith Reynolds Foun
dation in Winston-Salem plans on a 5
percent across-the-board pay hike
this year for its staff, which includes
eight full-time employees, two part-
time consultants and a part-time
clerical worker. The 5 percent raise
has held true tor the last several
years.
Executive Director Tom Lambeth
says foundations are able to offer
bi^r pay raises this year than are
many corporations.
After several years of slow eco
nomic growth, corporate downsiz
ings and increased pressnre on prof
its, for-profit companies aren’t about
to let their payroll costs run out of
control.
FOUNDATION SALARIES
1993 foundation salaries in the South,
by selected positions
Chief Executive Officer
$82,000
Vice-President — Administration
73,000
Senior Program Officer
70,400
Vice President — Program
69,100
Treasurer/Chief Financial Officer
53,800
Associate Director
53,400
Program Director
53,300
Comptroller
48,900
Program Officer
46,400
Development Officer
43,800
Communications Officer
41,200
Accountant
31,000
Adminstrative Assistant
26,400
Secretary
23,200
Receptionist
18,900
Source: 1993
Foundation Salary
Report, Council on
Foundations
While many foundations also
have experienced pressures to keep
expenses down, they aren’t under
the same quarterly constraints that
for-profit companies are, Lambeth
says.
“1 don’t think we’re as influenced
by a slow economy,” he says. “We
really don’t feel quite the impact in
the rise and fall of the economy that
private companies do.”
At the same time, compensation
is becoming more sophisticated for
nonprofits, he says. The Council on
Foundations report is closely fol-
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina
lowed, even if it takes a while for the
data to be released. The most recent
report, issued in Angust, asked about
pay expectations for 1993 and includ
ed a summary of actual pay increas
es tor 1992.
Concerns over excessive execu
tive compensation in the wake of the
problems that surfaced in 1992 at the
United Way of America have led
many foundations to take a eloser
look at how they handle pay issues.
“There’s more attention being
given to just what is an appropriate
salary,” says Lambeth.
Hopkins
Continued from page 3
Principles of the Voluntary Sector,”
comes at a time of increased public
scrutiny of the nonprofit sector in the
U.S., and its development in Third
World countries and the emerging
democracies of the former Soviet
bloc.
The docnment should be valuable
for both, says Lester Salamon, direc
tor of the policy studies program.
“We are witnessing a kind of
worldwide increase in interest in this
kind of organization,” he says. “1
think the statement is therefore as
important here as it is elsewhere,
particularly with all the rethinking
and qnestioning that is underway
here.”
The statement outlines both the
sector’s obligations and its privi
leges. Its four sections cover the
rationale and role of the nonprofit
sector; private giving and volunteer
ing, the relationship between govern
ment and the nonprofit sector; and
suggested standards such as puhhc
disclosure of activities and finances
and reasonable administrative costs.
Conntries such as Russia that are
rewriting their laws will find practi
cal guidance in the statement, says
Salamon.
Indeed, it was increasing qnes-
tions from participants in the Johns
Hopkins International Fellows in
Philanthropy Program from coun
tries in the former Soviet bloc that
led to the idea tor the statement.
Already, the document has been
translated into several languages,
including Czech, Romanian, Bulgari
an, Hungarian and German.
Signers of the document include
nonprofit, foundation and govern
ment officials from Croatia, Ghana,
The Netherlands, Israel, Canada,
Germany, Brazil, France, England,
African, the U.S. and other countries.
Singe copies are free, and multi
ple copies are available for $1.25.
To order a copy or to sign the
statement write to: Volimtary Sector
Principles Statement, Institute tor
Policy Studies, The Johns Hopkins
University, Shriver Hall, Baltimore,
MD 21218.
Plugging in
Publication lists media contacts
but leaves some out
Dealing with the media can be
intimidating tor nonprofits. The phil
anthropy world generally is barely a
blip on the radar screen of reporters
and editors.
Yet spreading the word abont
your nonprofit can be an important
part of your overall strategy. Public
awareness about what you’re doing,
and about the challenges you face,
can better connect you with con
stituents, potential donors and vol
unteers.
So resources designed to help
your nonprofit work with the media
can be valuable.
A new publication from the N.C.
Center for Nonprofits is a step in this
direction. Unfortunately, it offers an
incomplete list of contacts at pubUca-
tions and radio and TV stations in
REVIEW
North Carolina.
Media Update is a revised edition
of a media Ust formerly produced on
a subscription basis by The Hnman
Services Institute in Greensboro. It
costs $15 for members of the N.C.
Center, $22 for nonprofits that are
not members and $30 tor others.
If you buy the current edition and
want future Updates, you’ll have to
pay for them.
That’s a lot to pay for a list that
can be obsolete rather quickly, gven
the high turnover in the news busi
ness. And Media Update fails to iden
tify nsefnl contacts at some news
outlets, such as advertising man
agers who handle public service
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announcements and reporters and
editors whose jobs involve covering
individnal subject areas, including
nonprofits and philanthropy.
Media Update also lacks any
explanation of how to work with the
media. That’s unfortunate because
the N.C. Center has a host of materi
als about media strategy.
To learn abont the media, a sure
bet is simply to do some homework.
Get to know your local media outlets.
Introduce yourself to their reporters
and editors. Your local public library
should have a directory of newspa
pers throughont the state. And you
can ask the N.C. Center about its
materials on media strategy.
You can reach the N.C. Center at
(919) 571-0811.
Todd Cohen
Technology
Continued from page 3
By way of contrast, CBS
President Howard Stringer said at a
recent industry forum that people
interact all day and don’t want to do
more at night. He said given a
choice, people simply wanted to
laugi and be entertained.
Perhaps, but I think Stringer
missed the real potential of interac
tive technology by missing its social
dynamic. It is a system that can put
adults, children, businesses, teach
ers, the poor, even inmates, in
greater charge of their nniverse,
thereby giving them a sense of own
ership and caring.
Let’s hope those who traffick on
North Carolina’s information high
way take that lesson to heart.