Average Nonprofiteer Salary = $45,615

The latest salary study of the nonprofit sector, from the NonProfit Times:

Rank & File NPO Staff Members Earn Average $45,615

The average annual turnover rate at nonprofits across the country is 14.57 percent and it only takes about seven employees moving to make that happen. That’s among the findings in a new The NonProfit Times salary and benefits study completed by Bluewater Nonprofit Solutions.

The NonProfit Times and Bluewater accumulated data from 550 organizations for more than 241 job titles, from entry level to the executive suite. Of those organizations, some 328 had revenue of at least $1 million and 137 of them had revenue of more than $5 million.

For the curious, the average total compensation for a nonprofit sector employee is $45,615 and 34.89 percent or organizations use bonus pay as part of compensation. Staff salary increases averaged 3.87 percent while executive level staff received an average 4.17 percent increase for 2009. The average bonus to a chief executive officer was 4.87 percent, according to the survey data.

On average, less than 1 percent of a nonprofit’s budget goes to paying bonuses. But, the most popular benefit for the chief executive is a car or car allowance, offered by 65.1 percent of organizations.

Nonprofit employee average 11.1 days of vacation and most have good teeth since 64.4 percent of organizations offer dental benefits. However, 16.3 percent of organizations offer no medical coverage at all.

The adage is that hard work pays off. That’s not the case at 12.2 percent of organizations, which do not compensate non-exempt staff for working overtime. According to the survey, 65.79 percent of full-time employees are considered to be exempt staff.

The report includes comprehensive data for following categories:  colleges/universities, arts, culture, environment, animal welfare, diseases and disorders, medical treatment and research, housing, disaster relief, youth, human services, international, civil rights, religious, grant-making, membership, science, and food banks. The data will be updated quarterly.

Some of the other salary data, which can be dissected by region and locality, includes:

• Bookkeeper: $33,194;
• Box office manager: $48,250;
• Chief development officer/vice president: $100,287;
• Foundation program assistant: $36,689;
• Government relations manager: $77,665;
• Grants administrator: $52,187;
• Human resources manager: $53,967;
• Inbound call center manager: $56,191;
• Office manager: $39,977; and,
• Webmaster: $58,008.

The report includes data on 94 benefit offerings and 30 job families. It includes cost and other key performance metrics with percentile rankings that can be used to benchmark salary and benefit practices. Information is presented by multiple views to allow for quick and easy comparisons against relevant peer organizations by geographic location, operating budget, number of employees, and organization focus.

For more information and data, go to http://www.nptimes.com/bluewater/