Foundations

Foundations Continue to Diversify Staff, Increase Women CEO Pay

A Council on Foundations analysis shows a rise in female CEOs and people of color in grant-making roles.

By Alex Daniels

October 28, 2025

Salaries for women foundation CEOs were 88.1 percent of their male counterparts last year, an increase of nearly 5 percentage points over the previous year, according to a March survey of nearly 1,000 grant makers.

Turnover last year among foundation staff rose to 12.3 percent, inching toward the high mark it hit during the 2022. In that year’s “great resignation, turnover reached 13.1 percent and then fell to less than 11 percent for a year.

Meanwhile, more people of color — 18.6 percent — had the top job at foundations in 2024 than the previous year

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Turnover last year among foundation staff rose to 12.3 percent, inching toward the high mark during the 2022. In that year’s “great resignation, turnover reached 13.1 percent and then fell to less than 11 percent for a year.

Meanwhile, more people of color — 18.6 percent — had the top job at foundations in 2024 than in the previous year, when it was just more than 17 percent, according to the Council on Foundations 2025 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey. The survey found that diversity among all foundation staff continues to grow. Nearly 35 percent of staff were people of color in 2024, up about 2 percentage points from the previous year.

The survey showed a marked difference in pay for top executives depending on the type of institution. The median foundation CEO salary last year was $240,000 a year, with corporate foundation leaders’ compensation topping $330,000 and private foundation presidents’ salaries coming in at more than $280,000.

Community foundation CEO salaries were just over $195,000. Meanwhile, program officer salaries at corporate and private foundations were about $119,000 and $128,000 per year, respectively.

Salaries for all full-time staff at community foundations have failed to keep up with inflation, according to an analysis of 555 grant makers that have provided information for the past five years. During that time, pay for regional grant making staff declined 6.3 percent in total, while salaries of all full-time staff at private foundations grew 1.7 percent when adjusted for inflation.

At the same time, salaries for community foundation leaders increased nearly 4 percent during the five years, while pay for private foundation leaders declined less than 1 percent when inflation is taken into consideration.