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Lodestar Center releases new Compensation & Benefits Report

Logo for Nonprofit Compensation and Benefits 2019 (Maricopa and Pima County Organizations) report and ASU Lodestar Center..

June 5, 2020 (Phoenix, Ariz.) – The ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation released its new Nonprofit Compensation and Benefits Report this week, sharing data collected in 2019 from nonprofit organizations in Maricopa and Pima counties.

The report provides valuable compensation data across over 50 nonprofit job positions, as well as findings on employee retirement, insurance, paid time off, and other benefits. It is critical in helping nonprofits make informed decisions on salaries and benefits for dozens of position titles, organized by budget size and organization type (human services, education, arts, etc.). The ASU Lodestar Center conducts the survey every three years, filling a niche for Arizona nonprofit organizations and boards of directors that rely on this data to remain competitive and attract top talent to the sector.

“Our Compensation and Benefits Report is one of the most highly anticipated knowledge resources of its kind to support the nonprofit sector in our region,” said Dr. Robert Ashcraft, Executive Director of ASU’s Lodestar Center and Saguaro Professor of Civic Enterprise. “There is simply no substitute for having reliable data when making important staff salary decisions.”

The report also includes data on senior leadership in Maricopa and Pima county nonprofits.

  • Representation remains a challenge at nonprofit organizations. Only 16% of responding organizations have a CEO of color.
  • Women lead 65% of responding organizations and far outnumber men as leaders of small-to-medium nonprofits. At the largest budget categories, men and women were equally represented.
  • CEOs in Pima County earned 25% less than their Maricopa County counterparts on average. This county difference held across most job positions in the report to varying degrees.
  • Median CEO salary was on average 13% higher than in 2016's report. Program Manager/Director salaries were up 15% from the previous report.

The focus of the report was Arizona nonprofit organizations in Maricopa and Pima counties that hold IRS-defined 501(c)(3) status, employ at least one full-time paid staff member and are not hospitals, private grantmaking foundations or higher education institutions.

Tucson Foundations, BeachFleischman PC and Mutual of America provided funding, in part, for this research effort.

Purchase the report