The Average Salary of a Nonprofit Executive Director: The 2024 Nonprofit Salary Guide
Read on to find out:
The average salary of a nonprofit executive director
Notes on this salary range
How to maximize your salary as an Executive Director
The average salary of a nonprofit executive director
The executive director of a nonprofit earns between $57,433 per year on the low end of the spectrum and $164,964 per year on the high end. The average salary reported was $100,012 per year.
Notes on this salary range
The average salary of a nonprofit’s executive director varies for several reasons. The size and budget of a nonprofit, location (or market), the experience, qualifications, and education of the executive director, and the sector or industry of the nonprofit all play an important role in determining an executive directors salary. In our analysis we discovered that the compensation of an executive director tends to vary more than other roles in the sector.
How Nonprofit Size Affects Compensation
Executive directors at larger nonprofits (those with higher annual budgets) tend to earn more than executive directors at smaller nonprofits.
How Location Affects Compensation
Executive directors on the West Coast tend to earn more than executive directors on the East Coast, followed by executive directors in the Midwest.
How Sector Affects Compensation
Executive directors in the science and health sector tend to have the highest compensation, while executive directors in the religious, animal-welfare, and arts tend to have the lowest compensation.
How this Salary Range was Calculated
This salary was calculated by aggregating the average salaries from open and recently filled positions posted to job search websites with compensation reports from Careers in Nonprofits, Momentum Nonprofit Partners, and Candid. Compensation reports usually rely on IRS data, which only applies to roles that are already filled. We’ve calibrated our salary report to account for this, and show you the salary range that executive directors are most likely to secure in 2024.
How to maximize your salary as an Executive Director
Research executive director salaries that match your nonprofit’s industry, sector and size. Knowledge is power. Equip yourself with knowledge about how much executive directors in similar situations are making. The guide you’re reading is a good start, but you should get more specific. Review the salaries that the nonprofit you’re interviewing with and similar nonprofits have been paying their former executive directors using the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search Tool. Find the organization’s 990 and review the compensation section. What they’ve paid directors in the past is a good indicator of what they’ll pay in the future. This can help you to establish a baseline expectation.
Negotiate a compensation package that works for you and the decision makers. Relationships are like wet cement. Whether you’re an internal or external candidate, creating a strong foundation is key to success. It’s easiest to make a change, set an expectation, or develop a reputation early in a relationship, rather than later. Once the proverbial cement has dried, it’s much more work to change your role, or your nonprofit’s perception of your value. Confidently and consistently request a compensation package that incorporates your education, your experience, any certifications you have, and the value that you will add to your nonprofit. A compensation package can be conditional: if you’re the world’s best fundraiser, you should play to your strengths and tie your compensation to goals that you and the decision makers share.
Develop a plan to improve the organization, get buy-in from the board and other stakeholders, and track your impact. Make it easy for senior leadership to increase your salary. Each step in this process is critical: taking the initiative to come up with an improvement plan on your own shows that you’re a leader and you have a vision for the future. Securing alignment with your stakeholders makes sure that you’re going down a path that they’re equally excited about. Tracking your impact removes any subjectivity from the evaluation process. If you and your stakeholders can mutually agree on which metrics to track and what success looks like, you’ll have a clear goal to work towards and objective proof of your impact.
Continue to learn and develop your skills. Every new skill that you learn should make you a better leader and representative of your nonprofit. It also has the added benefit of making you more employable elsewhere, and therefore more valuable at your current organization.
Build out your network and focus on relationships. Cultivating relationships with your peers, the board of directors, donors, and the community your nonprofit serves will not only make your professional life more meaningful, it will make it easier for people in a position of power to fairly compensate you. This tip is a little more abstract than the others, so we’re including a few ideas here. Take the extra time to connect with your coworkers on LinkedIn and endorse them on skills that you’ve seen them demonstrate. Make your supervisor's job easier: if you don’t know how, just ask them. They should be happy to tell you. Be the manager that you wish you had: set clear expectations and invest in your direct report’s success. Develop a genuine interest in other people; don’t try and fake it, or they will know and it will be awkward for everyone. The short version is that people are more likely to help people that they like.