Research

Philanthropy's New Voice: Building Trust With Deeper Stories and Clear Language

MatthewCain — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 18:45:18 +0000

Philanthropy's New Voice: Building Trust With Deeper Stories and Clear Language MatthewCain Tue, 03/19/2024 - 14:45

Philanthropy's New Voice: Building Trust With Deeper Stories and Clear Language

United States foundations are an essential element of America’s social sector, supporting causes from public libraries to groundbreaking research, to new approaches to building a more equitable world. But despite their reach, foundations have an identity problem. From small towns to Washington, D.C., Americans have a limited picture of what foundations do. This leaves the door open for others to define foundations through critiques and harmful narratives about foundations and the nonprofits they support.

This report, “Philanthropy’s New Voice: Building Trust With Deeper Stories and Clear Language,” offers science-backed strategies for foundations to build understanding and trust, starting with the words they use and the stories they tell. It is the result of a yearlong research collaboration between the Council on Foundations and the Center for Public Interest Communications, drawing on:

A national survey of 3,557 people to assess attitudes about philanthropy and test language;
Interviews with policymakers and their staffs to assess their sentiment about the sector;
An analysis of Congressmembers’ social media statements about foundations;
A content analysis of Congressional Research Service reports; and
Interviews with communications practitioners, Congressional staffers, and a philanthropy researcher.

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2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report

MatthewCain — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 12:17:05 +0000

2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report MatthewCain Mon, 10/02/2023 - 08:17

2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report

The 2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report is updated with the most recent sector data. Information is presented by grantmaker type, foundation type, asset size, and geographic location. Additionally, 2023 report contents include:

Salary data on 10,733 full-time staff from 957 grantmaking organizations
Increase, bonus, and severance eligibility and activity data
Staff counts for full and part-time staff by grantmaker type and asset size
Gender, race/ethnicity, age, and disability counts
Staff tenure, departure, and turnover rates
CEO-specific compensation, benefits, and discretionary grantmaking practices
Benefits practices and employer costs

You can also explore the report's Key Findings, and both members and nonmembers can download the Key Findings document for free.

Participants in the 2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey can access Benchmark Central to run salary, benefit, and demographic comparisons by asset size, grants, geographic location, and grantmaker type.

Council members who did not participate in the 2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey but would like access to the online benchmarking tool can email communications@cof.org to request access.

Non-members will receive access to the online benchmarking tool with their purchase of the full report.

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2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report: Key Findings

council-webteam — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 15:30:52 +0000

2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report: Key Findings council-webteam Thu, 09/28/2023 - 11:30

2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report: Key Findings

The 2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits (GSB) Key Findings is an illustrated, three-page document highlighting important trends shaping the philanthropic sector. Also available as a free PDF, the 2023 GSB Key Findings is a small part of the full dataset available in the 2023 GSB Report, which is built from data on 10,733 full-time staff at 957 foundations and corporate grantmakers. Council members can download the full 2023 GSB Report for free, and nonmembers can purchase the full report for $549.

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Download the 2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report

Compensation Rises, but Not Like Inflation

While the U.S. experienced its highest peak inflation rate (9.1%) in 40 years...

2023 2022

Turnover Increases

Departures and turnover rates are higher in this year's GSB report than in previous years.

The mean turnover rate for participating foundations was:

2023 2022

57%

of responsive foundations reported staff departures in 2023.

52% in 2022

50% in 2021

The median turnover rate for administrative staff was:

2023 2022

Leave Benefits Expand, Coverage for Partners Plateaus

This was the first year the GSB asked about sabbaticals as a benefit for all staff members, rather than solely for executives.

9% of responding foundations offer sabbaticals to full-time staff.

6.3% offer them to part-time staff.

Of responding foundations paternity leave is offered by:

Of responding foundations, adoption leave is offered by:

2023 2022

Domestic partner inclusion for benefits appears to have plateaued, rising only to:

69.6%

Same-Gender Benefits

Only 69.6% of foundations extend benefits to employees' same-gender spouses.

69.1% in 2022

67.3% in 2021

Increased Reporting of Disabilities

8.42%

of foundations report having at least one full- or part-time staff member with a disability, up slightly from 8% in 2022.

foundations — 2% of those who responded to questions covering staff with disabilities — reported having a CEO/CGO with a disability, double the number reported in 2022.

Racial Diversity Continues to Climb, but Gender Pay Gap Persists

People of color account for:

32.7%
of full-time staff in 2023.

31% in 2022
29% in 2021
27% in 2020

61%

of foundation CEOs identified as female, down slightly from:

62% in 2022

14.9%

of foundation CEOs were people of color, up slightly from:

14% in 2022
12% in 2021

0.4%

of foundation staff members identified as nonbinary, the same as last year.

The Gender Pay Gap

The median salary for female CEOs was:

The median salary for male CEOs was:

2023 2022

Female CEO pay is about 85.3% of the median salary reported for male CEOs.

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Download the 2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report

Download the Key Findings PDF

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Benchmarking

Human Resources & Operations

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2022 Council on Foundations - Commonfund Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations (CCSF)

MatthewCain — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 19:18:39 +0000

2022 Council on Foundations - Commonfund Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations (CCSF) MatthewCain Mon, 08/28/2023 - 15:18

2022 Council on Foundations - Commonfund Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations (CCSF)

The CCSF Study is the field’s most comprehensive and authoritative study on investment and governance policies and practices. The 2022 CCSF studies 277 private and community foundations that represent $206.8 billion in assets. Topics covered include:

Returns and Investment Objectives
Asset Allocation and Responsible Investing Criteria
Responsible Investment Practices
Fund Flows, Spending and Gifts
Resources, Management and Governance

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Endowments & Investing

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Assessing Community Foundation Needs and Envisioning the Future

david.rosado@cof.org — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 16:11:30 +0000

Assessing Community Foundation Needs and Envisioning the Future david.rosado@cof.org Mon, 08/28/2023 - 12:11

Assessing Community Foundation Needs and Envisioning the Future

Community foundations have several attributes that, taken together, distinguish them from many of their philanthropic brethren, including a local orientation, relationships with many living donors, and a public charity tax status. This affects everything from their approach to solving problems to their business model. Because of this, community foundations have sought out support services that are designed for their particular needs. The infrastructure of organizations serving community foundations has evolved, and there has been confusion among community foundations over where to get their needs met and some frustration over the perceived fragmentation of services.

In response to these concerns and to create some clarity, CFLeads and CF Insights, both of which exclusively serve community foundations, decided to map out the current support services and lead a discussion exploring a vision for the future. The findings from a survey of a dozen large community foundations and a one-day symposium are summarized here. Hopefully the results of this partnership provide a better understanding of the ecosystem of organizations serving community foundations and some initial thinking on how to meet needs in the future.

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Making Informed Decisions in Uncertain Times: Helping Community Foundations during Economic Volatility

david.rosado@cof.org — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 15:31:18 +0000

Making Informed Decisions in Uncertain Times: Helping Community Foundations during Economic Volatility david.rosado@cof.org Thu, 08/24/2023 - 11:31

Making Informed Decisions in Uncertain Times: Helping Community Foundations during Economic Volatility

To help community foundations address twin challenges of fewer resources and greater need, CF Insights conducted research by interviewing and collecting survey responses from a cross section of 73 community foundations during the month of October 2008.

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Participate in the next CCSF Study of Private and Community Foundations

MatthewCain — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 13:44:56 +0000

Participate in the next CCSF Study of Private and Community Foundations MatthewCain Tue, 04/04/2023 - 09:44

Participate in the next CCSF Study of Private and Community Foundations

Are you a fiduciary that oversees an endowment at a Private or Community Foundation?

The Council on Foundations is proud to partner again with the Commonfund Institute on this year's Council on Foundations-Commonfund Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations (CCSF), the annual study that's widely recognized as the leading source on investment and governance policies and practices. The Study covers topics such as:

Returns and investment objectives
Asset allocation
Investment policies
Responsible investing practices
Gifts
Fund flows
Resources, management and governance

Your participation will help ensure that the CCSF continues to be the most comprehensive and authoritative study on investment and governance policies and practices. Complete the form on Commonfund's site to see if you are eligible to participate.

Participate in the Study

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2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report: Key Findings

EmMoses — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 16:21:50 +0000

2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report: Key Findings EmMoses Wed, 11/16/2022 - 11:21

2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report: Key Findings

Drawing from data provided by 1,003 institutional responses, the 2022 GSB Key Findings highlights important human resource trends that are shaping the philanthropic sector. This year’s key findings feature the voices of human resources professionals and leaders from across the sector as they reflect on updated processes and procedures that better reflect the needs and desires of their staff, on the benefits of expanding your foundation's vocabulary around disability, and more.

In addition, the free GSB Key Findings resource shows that:

The philanthropic sector is heeding the call to diversify foundation staff, with grantmakers hiring more people of color as program officers and chief executives.
The majority of the field reported their staff eligible for bonuses, and the majority of those who reported staff eligibility also reported they awarded bonuses.

The GSB Key Findings is an accompanying resource to the Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report, which includes demographic data for 9,995 full-time staff and salary data for 10,304 full-time staff and provides detailed salary information for 36 full-time professional and administrative roles in philanthropy, classified by both geographic region and type of foundation.

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2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report: Board Compensation Tables

JasonLudwig — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 13:47:24 +0000

2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report: Board Compensation Tables JasonLudwig Wed, 10/05/2022 - 09:47

2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report: Board Compensation Tables

The 2022 Board Compensation Tables provide foundation board and staff with the tools they need to benchmark their board compensation policies and practices against peers in the field. This report contains data collected through the Council’s 2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey and presented by foundation type, asset group, and U.S. Census region. It also includes updated guidelines for determining reasonable compensation for foundation directors and trustees.

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2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report

JasonLudwig — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 16:44:27 +0000

2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report JasonLudwig Tue, 09/27/2022 - 12:44

2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report

The 2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefit report is updated with the most recent sector data. Information is presented by grantmaker type, foundation type, asset size, and geographic location. Additionally, 2022 report contents include:

Salary data on 10,304 full-time staff from 1,003 grantmaking organizations
Increase, bonus, and severance eligibility and activity data
Staff counts for full and part-time staff by grantmaker type and asset size
Gender, race/ethnicity, age, and disability counts
Staff tenure, departure, and turnover rates
CEO-specific compensation, benefits, and discretionary grantmaking practices
Benefits practices and employer costs

Participants in the 2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey can access Benchmark Central to run salary, benefit, and demographic comparisons by asset size, grants, geographic location, and grantmaker type.

Council members who did not participate in the 2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey but would like access to the online benchmarking tool can email communications@cof.org to request access.

Non-members will receive access to the online benchmarking tool with their purchase of the full report.

Members, Download for free

Nonmembers, Purchase from store

Member price

Free

List Price

$499

Questions?

Connect with Council Staff