Saturday, September 4, 2010

Multi-million dollar paydays for a few nonprofit executives

The most highly-paid nonprofit CEO in America is New York Philharmonic exec Zarin Mehta (left), bringing in $2,649,540, according to the newest CEO compensation survey by nonprofit watchdog Charity Navigator.

Coming in at No. 2 is New York’s Museum of Modern Art exec Glenn D. Lowry, at $2,447,882.

Of the more than 3,000 nonprofits examined in the 2010 report, Charity Navigator found that only 121 pay their CEOs more than $500,000 a year. Many on that rarefied list are the heads of universities, research institutes and high-profile arts organizations.

The median nonprofit CEO pay is a rather sober $147,243, according to the report. But that varies by region of the country, the amount of money the nonprofit spends annually, and its mission. (More on that in a minute.)

Weighing in at No. 1 in California, and No. 8 nationwide, is University of the Pacific’s Donald DeRosa (below, right), at $1,229,479.

And at No. 2 in California, and No. 14 nationwide, is The Scripps Research Institute’s Richard A. Lerner, at $1,024,776.

Charity Navigator was kind enough to forward us a spreadsheet of the nation’s top-earning execs (Top CEO Salaries), with the caution that some of these numbers could be high because they include deferred-compensation payouts that accumulate over years, but are paid to execs in one lump sum when they leave or retire. (That’s what happened last year, when the Boy Scouts of America paid its retiring exec $1.6 million.) We’ll let you know if that’s the case for folks on this list.

While Charity Navigator defended six-figure pay for some nonprofit executives, “it is evident that seven-figure salaries do not seem warranted, even in the largest-sized charities,” it said.

In our region — the Pacific West – median pay is $267,048 for the exec of a large charity (more than $13.5 million in annual expenses), $155,442 for a medium-sized charity (between $3.5 million and $13.5 million in annual expenses), and $95,939 for a small charity (less than $3.5 million in annual expenses), it found.

“Many donors assume that charity leaders work for free or minimal pay and are shocked to see that they earn six figure salaries,” the report says. “But these well-meaning donors fail to consider that these CEOs are running multi-million dollar operations that endeavor to change the world. Leading one of these charities requires an individual that possesses an understanding of the issues that are unique to the charity’s mission as well as a high level of fundraising and management expertise. Attracting and retaining that type of talent requires a competitive level of compensation as dictated by the marketplace. While there are nonprofit salaries that we would all agree are out of line, it is important for donors to understand that since the average CEO earns roughly $150,000, a six-figure salary is not necessarily a sign of excessive pay for a mid to large sized charity.”

Median pay at S&P 500 companies is $1 million, excluding bonus packages and stock options that drive the median compensation up to $6.6 million, the report says.

In coming days, we will examine the ratings and pay data for the dozens of Orange County-based charities ranked by Charity Navigator.

We’ll break them into small, medium and large categories, and compare their executive pay to the numbers in the compensation report. We welcome comment and input from the nonprofits themselves.

Here, meanwhile, are the top earners:

Charity_Name State CEO Salary 2008 Total Expenses 2008
New York Philharmonic NY Zarin Mehta $2,649,540 $65,067,908
The Museum of Modern Art NY Glenn D. Lowry $2,447,882 $203,086,252
Evans Scholars Foundation IL Donald Johnson $2,049,976 $15,216,197
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation NY Thomas Krens $1,716,343 $71,542,613
New York University NY John E. Sexton $1,352,974 $2,932,589,069
Baylor College of Medicine TX Peter G. Traber $1,290,200 $1,145,771,063
DePauw University IN Robert Bottoms $1,240,247 $131,749,639
University of the Pacific CA Donald DeRosa $1,229,479 $312,116,534
American Academy in Rome NY Adele Chatfield-Taylor $1,198,474 $13,455,871
Syracuse University NY Nancy Cantor $1,128,138 $876,542,814
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts DC Michael Kaiser $1,091,444 $164,586,864
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX Peter C. Marzio $1,054,939 $111,263,070
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute NY Shirley Ann Jackson $1,051,122 $452,216,491
The Scripps Research Institute CA Richard A. Lerner $1,024,776 $364,666,641
The New School NY J. Robert Kerrey $1,010,048 $309,759,815
United Way Worldwide VA Brian A. Gallagher $982,768 $57,658,994
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts NY Reynold Levy $970,707 $169,755,615
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago IL David Mosena $954,827 $61,519,148
The Heritage Foundation DC Edwin J. Feulner $947,999 $64,645,625
Yale University CT Richard C. Levin $932,501 $2,612,418,784
The Los Angeles Philharmonic CA Deborah Borda $928,232 $89,029,795
Southern Methodist University TX Robert Gerald Turner $922,685 $463,951,588
Northwestern University IL Henry S. Bienen $903,760 $1,749,809,945
Prostate Cancer Foundation CA Jonathan W Simons $880,801 $39,679,725
University of Pennsylvania PA Amy Gutmann $879,716 $3,640,400,321
Columbia University NY Lee Bollinger $878,975 $3,054,105,634
National Trust for Historic Preservation DC Richard Moe $861,625 $59,470,390
University of Southern California CA Steven B. Sample $861,617 $2,191,611,360
Emory University GA James W. Wagner $852,786 $2,383,629,246
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute MA Edward J. Benz Jr. $848,802 $723,395,946
Yeshiva University NY Richard Joel $834,000 $687,257,830
Princeton University NJ Shirley Tilghman $813,242 $1,190,644,000
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation OK Stephen Prescott $806,150 $59,349,524
Carnegie Hall NY Clive Gillinson $800,777 $75,120,097
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center NY David Ho $789,651 $18,072,185
University of Miami FL Donna E. Shalala $783,420 $1,992,907,677
California Institute of Technology CA Jean-Lou Chameau $767,300 $2,379,883,000
Rice University TX David Leebron $758,034 $423,203,683
American Ireland Fund MA Kingsley Aikins $737,396 $10,911,375
American Museum of Natural History NY Ellen V. Futter $732,500 $182,716,805
New York Community Trust NY Lorie A. Slutsky $730,005 $192,103,167
Wildlife Conservation Society NY Steven E. Sanderson $725,485 $197,389,730
Teachers College, Columbia University NY Susan Fuhrman $716,686 $180,649,230
Boston University MA Robert A. Brown $713,718 $1,591,607,703
The Aspen Institute DC Walter Isaacson $705,711 $63,502,393
Nova Southeastern University FL Ray Ferrero Jr. $705,355 $522,759,784
Los Angeles Opera CA Placido Domingo $700,000 $55,573,201
Northeastern University MA Joseph E. Aoun $697,977 $782,247,604
Stanford University CA John Hennessy $697,475 $3,421,553,788
Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA Susan Hockfield $695,435 $2,480,364,000
University of Rochester NY Joel Seligman $695,323 $2,127,615,428
Tulane University LA Scott C. Cowen $690,000 $702,416,000
American Cancer Society GA John Seffrin $685,884 $1,042,356,808
National Gallery of Art DC Earl A. Powell III $685,740 $166,798,264
Foreign Policy Association NY Noel V. Lateef $683,014 $4,604,348
Jewish Federation of Cleveland OH Stephen Hoffman $675,995 $82,405,925
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research DC Christopher DeMuth $675,000 $29,924,825
American Association for the Advancement of Science DC Alan I. Leshner $671,125 $84,904,005
Duke University NC Richard H. Brodhead $667,296 $2,099,262,646
The New York Public Library NY Paul LeClerc $664,200 $279,765,352
Council on Foreign Relations NY Richard Haass $664,000 $45,658,871
YMCA of Greater Houston TX Clark Baker $661,634 $109,098,649
Cornell University NY David J. Skorton $661,578 $2,669,806,563
Carnegie Mellon University PA Jared Cohon $661,060 $890,271,726
University of Notre Dame IN The Rev. John I. Jenkins $652,695 $882,973,102
Educational Media Foundation CA Richard Jenkins $648,537 $68,990,148
New Jersey Performing Arts Center NJ Lawrence P. Goldman $646,780 $32,155,805
The Kinkaid School TX Don North $645,608 $30,216,941
Brown University RI Ruth J. Simmons $636,158 $709,235,790
The Juilliard School NY Joseph W. Polisi $628,638 $76,117,470
Worcester Polytechnic Institute MA Dennis Berkey $625,171 $181,550,967
Whitney Museum of American Art NY Adam D. Weinberg $624,000 $36,297,000
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation VA Colin G. Campbell $620,096 $210,541,248
Tufts University MA Lawrence Bacow $617,895 $672,715,929
Ravinia Festival IL Welz D. Kauffman $616,212 $26,497,882
March of Dimes NY Jennifer Howse $615,434 $232,445,150
The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore MD Marc Terrill $608,840 $72,995,090
Georgetown University DC John J. DeGioia $607,939 $1,001,126,409
The Paley Center for Media NY Pat Mitchell $604,376 $20,825,282
Washington University in St. Louis MO Mark S. Wrighton $597,745 $1,923,663,000
Asia Society NY Vishakha N. Desai $596,741 $28,162,857
Boys & Girls Clubs of America GA Roxanne Spillett $593,926 $120,745,910
United States Golf Association NJ David Fay $591,821 $144,394,774
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA Malcolm A. Rogers $591,592 $117,563,800
The Nightingale-Bamford School NY Dorthy A. Hutcheson $590,535 $23,223,424
ALSAC – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital TN John P. Moses $589,833 $573,871,438
United States Olympic Committee CO James Scherr $589,493 $231,148,223
Long Island University NY David Steinberg $588,512 $428,753,980
American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education IL Henry White Jr. $584,905 $61,251,145
Carleton College MN Robert A. Oden Jr. $584,300 $125,358,969
Swarthmore College PA Alfred H. Bloom $576,553 $136,565,729
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust PA J. Kevin McMahon $574,155 $51,692,692
Polytechnic Institute of NYU NY Jerry Hultin $570,000 $130,977,000
Medical College of Wisconsin WI T. Michael Bolger $565,000 $710,340,548
San Diego Opera CA Ian Campbell $563,895 $17,198,150
Texas Christian University TX Victor J. Boschini Jr. $561,114 $314,679,354
YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta GA Fred Bradley $557,583 $107,022,967
Boston Symphony Orchestra MA Mark Volpe $554,210 $83,231,831
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists DC Ralph W. Hale $545,186 $53,947,524
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative NY Seth Berkley $542,103 $91,662,901
YMCA of Greater New York NY John W. Lund $539,465 $148,443,469
Washington Legal Foundation DC Constance C. Larcher $538,807 $3,792,119
Brandeis University MA Jehuda Reinharz $534,528 $324,579,341
Episcopal High School VA F. Robertson Hershey $530,180 $29,904,041
DePaul University IL Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider $530,136 $485,890,923
Shedd Aquarium IL Ted A. Beattie $529,677 $45,415,686
Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts VA Terrence D. Jones $524,758 $28,472,706
San Francisco Symphony CA Brent Assink $524,096 $64,310,909
Brunswick School CT Thomas W. Philip $522,192 $34,546,898
Rye Country Day School NY Scott A. Nelson $515,909 $28,051,877
Williams College MA Morton Owen Schapiro $515,438 $205,808,400
University of Chicago IL Robert J. Zimmer $514,140 $1,817,047,950
Audubon Nature Institute LA L. Ronald Forman $512,221 $29,432,434
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum DC Sara Bloomfield $511,830 $88,134,546
Brooklyn Museum NY Arnold Lehman $509,933 $33,780,081
The Field Museum IL John W. McCarter Jr. $508,278 $77,972,779
Community Service Society of New York NY David R. Jones $501,708 $20,587,825
Texas Heart Institute TX Denton A. Cooley $500,962 $27,508,142
The Art Institute of Chicago IL James Cuno $500,060 $204,427,879
Dartmouth College NH James E. Wright $500,000 $833,161,632
Washington National Opera DC Placido Domingo $500,000 $33,549,573

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