Are Non-Profit CEO Salaries Too High?
In an article bound to irk both sides of the political aisle (for different reasons), Stephanie Strom at The New York Times reports that "state and federal officials are starting to take their knives to the pay of leaders of nonprofit groups" who are perceived to be earning too much off of their lucrative government contracts. In the piece Strom quotes Republican Senator Tom Coburn who stated that "A nearly $1 million salary and benefit package for a nonprofit executive is not only questionable on its face but also raises questions about how the organization manages its finances in other areas."
That sentiment didn't fly well with bloggers and pundits who ironically note that many of those who support slashing salaries for non-profit CEOs would be aghast at the notion of doing so for their private sector counterparts. (One blogger at Balloon Juice wrote, "Perhaps [non-profits] need to pay a bit more than you might expect because corporations have been...cherry-picking comparable peers"). Others weigh in:
That sentiment didn't fly well with bloggers and pundits who ironically note that many of those who support slashing salaries for non-profit CEOs would be aghast at the notion of doing so for their private sector counterparts. (One blogger at Balloon Juice wrote, "Perhaps [non-profits] need to pay a bit more than you might expect because corporations have been...cherry-picking comparable peers"). Others weigh in:
- This Story Conflates Two Issues counters James Joyner at Outside the Beltway. It shouldn't matter whether non-profits pay their CEOs a "princely salary", they should be judged on the basis [of] their work product." He notes: "We need to distinguish cases of fraud, of course. If a few people get together to start a 'nonprofit' whose main purpose is to funnel