Fundraiser Pay at the Biggest Charities

The Chronicle’s report on fundraisers’ compensation includes pay for nearly 1,000 people from more than 500 nonprofits from 2011 through 2015. The analysis examined Internal Revenue Service data on nonprofits with at least $35 million in private support. The data were extracted from IRS Forms 990, which lists each organization’s highest-paid staff.

According to IRS regulations, nonprofits must disclose the pay of all people who make more than $150,000 and categorize it out by base salary, bonuses, benefits, and other compensation. Some individuals are paid by multiple related organizations and may be listed multiple times.

Religious groups, like the Salvation Army, are not required to file the forms, so although many of them raise more than $35 million, what they pay their fundraisers is not publicly available.

The Chronicle used various approaches to identify nonprofit employees who work as fundraisers. We searched for words such as “advancement,” “development,” “fundraise,” “donor,” “gift,” and “philanthropy” in the titles of officials listed on the 990s. We also tried to identify fundraisers whose titles do not suggest fundraising is their primary role. Among them: Richard Shadyac Jr., chief executive of the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, the fundraising arm of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Titles are as listed on the organizations’ 990s, though some have been lightly edited for clarity.

Components of total compensation include base pay, bonuses, employer contributions to retirement plans, debt forgiveness, travel and moving expenses, spending accounts, club dues, health benefits, life insurance, and other benefits.

Deferred compensation is included in the total only when paid out, not when set aside. Some compensation listed is for a partial year, as some employees may have started their jobs after January 1 or left them before December 31. We have noted those instances.