The 2026 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits (GSB) Key Findings is a visual highlight of the trends and changes that are shaping the philanthropic sector.
Also available as a free PDF, the 2026 GSB Key Findings is just a small fraction of the expansive dataset available in the 2026 GSB Report, which reflects information from 1,052 grantmakers for 13,362 full-time staff members. The full 2026 GSB Report will be available in early October.
Median Salary Increases
After turnover jumped in 2023 amid the Great Resignation, mean rates and total number of organizations reporting departures dropped in 2024 before rising again in 2025. In 2026, the mean turnover rate was just below 10% and the percentage of grantmakers reporting staff departures fell to 49%, the lowest levels reported in at least five years.
Mean Turnover Rate
202620252024
Reported Staff Departures
49%
of responding grantmakers reported staff departures for 2026.
57% in 2025
53% in 2024
34.2%
of full-time grantmaking staff in 2026.
34.7% in 2025
33.5% in 2024
18.7%
of foundation CEOs were people of color, compared to:
18.6% in 2025
17.1% in 2024
76.1%
of full-time grantmaking staff in 2026.
76.0% in 2023
75.8% in 2024
65.4%
of foundation CEOs identified as female, compared to:
63.8% in 2023
62.6% in 2024
The median salary for female CEOs was:
The median salary for male CEOs was:
*or about 86.1% of the median salary reported for male CEOs.
The median salary for female CEOs was:
The median salary for male CEOs was:
*or about 88.0% of the median salary reported for male CEOs.
While non-CEO staff at community foundations continued to receive median salaries that were lower in real dollars than in 2022, the difference was much lower than in recent years, possibly due to inflation in the U.S. economy appearing to cool in late 2025 and early 2026.
After several years in which inflation-adjusted salaries for private foundation CEOs were lower than salaries from five years prior, in 2026, real-dollar salaries for private foundation CEOs showed positive growth since 2022.
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