2026 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report Shows Decreasing Staff Turnover and Departures, Persistent Pay Gap for Female CEOs

WASHINGTON – The Council on Foundations today released the 2026 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report (GSB), an annual analysis of key human resources trends that includes the most comprehensive data on the composition and compensation of U.S. foundations. The report includes salary information on 13,362 full-time staff from 1,052 grantmaking organizations and benchmarking data for 38 distinct positions.

The report shows that foundation professionals are increasingly staying put in their jobs. After the mean turnover rate jumped in 2023 to 13.1% amid the “Great Resignation,” the rate in 2026 fell to 9.8%. The percentage of organizations reporting staff departures also decreased to 49%, the lowest level reported in at least five years.

Other key findings include:

• Salary increase rates continue to return to pre-pandemic levels: Median raises declined to 4% in 2026, down from a recent high of 4.6% last year amid the spike in inflation. This more closely aligns with the norm of 3-4% from 2009-2021 and is still higher than projected median salary increases of around 3.5% for all sectors of the economy.
• The gender pay gap remains: The median salary for female CEOs in 2026 was 86.1% of the median salary reported for male CEOs, down from 88% last year but improved from 83.5% in 2024.
• Diversity numbers show little change: After seeing small but steady increases in the percentage of people of color among full-time grantmaking staff from 2021-2025, the rate stayed virtually the same in 2026 at 34.2% compared to 34.7% in 2025. The percentage of foundation CEOs who are people of color also remained consistent at 18.7% compared to 18.6% last year. Women made up 76.1% of full-time staff, likewise in line with recent years, and the percent of foundation CEOs identifying as female rose to 65.4% from 63.8% in 2025.
• The trend of decreasing real-dollar salaries appears to be moderating: 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 at 4.7%. And 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 at -0.7% 

“The Council is committed to helping the charitable sector make informed decisions about the most important component of their organizations — their people,” said Kathleen Enright, president and CEO of the Council on Foundations. “Each year the GSB report provides the most comprehensive human resource data in philanthropy, helping foundations set and adjust staff salary, hiring, benefits, and more. At a time when operational data is more critical than ever, we’ll continue to provide the tools and information that foundations require to create the best working environments possible so they can more effectively carry out their vital missions.” 

Free for Council members and available for nonmembers to purchase on the Council’s website, the GSB Report has been an essential resource informing grantmaker decision-making on budgets, salaries, and benchmarking personnel policies and practices since 1980.

Organized by grantmaker type, foundation type, asset size, and geographic location, available GSB data includes:

• Increase, bonus, and severance eligibility and activity figures;
• Staff counts for full- and part-time staff;
• Gender, race/ethnicity, age, and disability percentages;
• Staff tenure, departure, and turnover rates;
• CEO-specific compensation, benefits, and discretionary grantmaking practices; and
• Benefits practices and employer costs. 

Respondents included U.S.-based community, corporate, operating, public, and private foundations (including family foundations). For more information and to access the report, visit the Council on Foundations website.

About the Council on Foundations
The Council on Foundations is a nonprofit membership association that serves as a guide for philanthropies as they advance the greater good. Building on our 75-year history, the Council supports over 1,000 member organizations in the United States and around the world to build trust in philanthropy, expand pathways to giving, engage broader perspectives, and co-create solutions that will lead to a better future for all. Learn more about the Council and become a member by visiting www.cof.org.