2026 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report: Key Findings

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. Council members can download the full 2026 GSB Report for free, and nonmembers can purchase the full report for $649.

Download the Key Findings PDF

Get the full GSB Report

Salary increase rates continue return to pre-pandemic norms

Median Salary Increases

View data table

Data table for Chart
Category
2026 (expected)	4
2025	4.6
2024	4.3

Turnover rates drop to lowest levels in five years

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

View data table

Data table for Chart
Category	2026	2025	2024
	9.8	12.3	10.8

202620252024

Reported Staff Departures

49%

of responding grantmakers reported staff departures for 2026.

57% in 2025
53% in 2024

Staff and executive diversity remain unchanged

People of color account for:

34.2%

of full-time grantmaking staff in 2026.

34.7% in 2025
33.5% in 2024

View data table

Data table for Chart
Label	Value
Not	65.8
People of Color	34.2

18.7%

of foundation CEOs were people of color, compared to:

18.6% in 2025
17.1% in 2024

Women account for:

76.1%

of full-time grantmaking staff in 2026.

76.0% in 2023
75.8% in 2024

View data table

Data table for Chart
Label	Value
Others	23.9
Women	76.1

65.4%

of foundation CEOs identified as female, compared to:

63.8% in 2023
62.6% in 2024

The gender pay gap among CEOs remains and continues to fluctuate slightly

2026

The median salary for female CEOs was:

The median salary for male CEOs was:

View data table

Data table for Chart
Category	Female CEOs	Male CEOs
	233255	271000

*or about 86.1% of the median salary reported for male CEOs.

2025

The median salary for female CEOs was:

The median salary for male CEOs was:

View data table

Data table for Chart
Category	Female CEOs	Male CEOs
	230000	261500

*or about 88.0% of the median salary reported for male CEOs.

The trends of decreasing real-dollar salaries appears to be moderating

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.

All Community Foundation Staff Salary Growth

14.4% nominal growth leads to -0.7% real growth from 2022-2026

Community Foundation CEO Salary Growth

202% nominal growth leads to 6% real growth from 2022-2026

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.