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A report by Third Sector says there are more women CEOs of nonprofits, but they make less money than men.
More women than men are running Massachusetts area nonprofits, but they are earning less money, according to a new study done by Third Sector New England, an organization dedicated to assisting nonprofits.
The study released this week revealed a significant gender gap when it came to executive pay at nonprofits. The study found that while 59 percent of nonprofit executive directors and chief executive officers surveyed were women, female executive directors were earning an average of $106,600, compared to $139,500 for the average man.
The study also found that compensation at Massachusetts nonprofits remains low for many employees, with 43 percent of nonprofit workers earning less than $28,000 a year.
The gender pay gap was mostly due to a difference in the size of the organizations led by men compared to those led by women. According to the study, 75 percent of nonprofits with budgets under $250,000 have female executive directors, while 60 percent of nonprofits with budgets over $25 million have male directors.
Lyn Freundlich, director of administration and human resources for Third Sector, said men tend to lead larger social service organizations and associations of nonprofits, while women predominate in smaller, social-justice oriented groups.
"Men aren't working in those roles that pay very little," Freundlich said.
Barbara Pilarcik is executive director of the Association for Community Living, a Springfield-based nonprofit with a $25 million budget that supports individuals with developmental disabilities. Pilarcik is the first female executive director of the association, which was founded in 1952.
Pilarcik said she thinks the pay gap among women leading nonprofits is reflective of the pay gap in society. The nonprofit sector is not immune from the factors that make it difficult for women to advance in the workforce, she said.
Barbara Pilarcik
"We think of human services as maybe being more liberal, that it might reflect those values better, but I think it's a persistent problem," Pilarcik said.
"We don't, in America, provide much in the way of support for working parents," Pilarcik said. "We don't provide childcare and some of the other things that would make it easier for people to work flexible hours. ... Women have to wind up taking themselves out of the career ladder a little bit to fulfill family obligations."
Pilarcik herself has dealt with offensive gendered remarks. When she was a regional director of an agency in Boston, one well-meaning male board member complimented her, "You're doing a terrific job. You'd make a great top level executive assistant."
Gender aside, the survey found a slight improvement in wages since 2010, the last time the survey was conducted. That year, 51 percent of respondents earned less than $28,000 a year, compared to 43 percent this year. Far more companies planned to give raises in 2014 compared to in 2010. (The same companies did not respond each year, so the data is not completely comparable.)
But the continuing low pay means nonprofits consistently lose experienced workers with institutional knowledge. Voluntary turnover rates over the past year for the organizations surveyed were 17 percent for full-time employees and 21 percent for part-time workers.
"Most alarming to me is just how little we're paying our nonprofit workforce," Freundlich said. "If we're paying almost half our workforce under $28,000, that's not a livable wage in most communities in Massachusetts."
Michael Weekes, president and CEO of the Providers' Council, an umbrella group of nonprofits providing community-based health, education and social services, said the data show how important it is for salaries to increase in the nonprofit sector. "We know the work is challenging, and we know we're going to be competing and continue to compete with the best and brightest in the overall economy," Weekes said. "It's important we pay attention to our salaries ... and how we can increase compensation so we are competitive."
The Providers' Council has been advocating for state government to increase the salaries it pays social service workers who receive government contracts.
The survey looked at 23,000 salaries from 250 organizations mostly in Massachusetts, with some in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire. There were 22 nonprofits from the Berkshire County region and 49 from Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties as well as Hartford County in Connecticut.
The full report, which includes extensive information about nonprofit compensation, benefits and time off, can be found below or on the Third Sector website.
Valuing Our Nonprofit Workforce 2014 Report 0