254 Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofi t Organizations
be consistent with the agency ’ s mission. Programs also evolve in response
to local, state, and federal funding opportunities. Nonprofi t staffi ng pat-
terns and the ability to pay employees are subject to a greater variety of
infl uences than the infl uences found in the public sector. When looking
for comparable employers, agencies must seek organizations that provide
similar services and are similarly situated in terms of size and structure
(including number of employees), revenue sources (size of operating bud-
get and types of grants and contributions received for nonprofi t agencies),
cash compensation (base and merit pay, increase schedules, and cost - of -
living adjustments) and benefi ts (number of paid holidays, personal days, and
sick days; nature and extent of health care coverage; and contributions
made to retirement), and position titles and benchmark equivalents (scope
of responsibilities, education requirements, years in position, and salaries
paid to incumbents). For example, a small community - based social service
nonprofi t that provides services to those who are developmentally disabled
should compare itself with other organizations of the same size and with
similar characteristics that provide comparable services. An agency staffed
by fi fteen employees should not compare itself with a large metropolitan
nonprofi t hospital. Local governments can use these same characteristics
(except for grants and contributions as sources of revenue) to determine
comparable employers.
If conducting a survey itself or hiring consultants to do so is not fea-
sible, various government agencies such as the state or federal Department
of Labor or commercial firms such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the Bureau of National Affairs, and the Commerce Clearing House pub-
lish area wage surveys and industry wage surveys, as well as professional,
administrative, technical, and clerical surveys. Professional associations
and consulting fi rms also publish salary data. For example, the Child Wel-
fare League of America publishes the salaries of youth service workers.
Nonprofit Times, Guidestar, and Chronicle of Philanthropy also publish stud-
ies of management salaries in nonprofi t organizations. A recent salary
study (Hrywna, 2008, p. 21) found that the mean projected salaries for
2007/2008 (respectively) were as follows:
Executive director/CEO/ president $ 116,902/ $ 119,553
Chief fi nancial offi cer $ 83,212/ $ 84,020
Program director $ 65,925/ $ 68,066
Development director $ 70,568/ $ 73,725