Nonprofit CEO Salary Data

The "CEO Pay" column shows total compensation as reported on Schedule J of the most recent Form 990 — base salary plus bonus, deferred compensation, retirement contributions, and non-taxable benefits combined. The "Revenue" column is Form 990 Part VIII total revenue for the same filing year. The "Ratio" column expresses CEO pay as a percent of total revenue, which is a fairer cross-organization comparison than the dollar figure alone, since a $1M CEO at a $1B health system is a very different proposition from a $1M CEO at a $5M advocacy group.

The Efficiency Score in the rightmost column reflects the same composite NonprofitTruth Efficiency Score that runs across the site (program ratio 50%, revenue-growth consistency 20%, reserves 20%, CEO-comp ratio 10%). High pay does not automatically pull a grade down; the score reads pay as a ratio to revenue, and large organizations can sustain large absolute pay packages without the ratio shifting the grade meaningfully.

On Schedule J, total compensation is the sum of seven columns: base salary, bonus and incentive compensation, other reportable compensation, retirement and other deferred compensation, non-taxable benefits, and any compensation reported in prior 990s. The IRS instructs filers to include compensation paid by related organizations as well — a CEO whose pay is split across a parent foundation and an operating affiliate appears with both amounts summed.

Deferred compensation is the trickiest line item to read. A pension or 457(b) plan contribution that vests over ten years is reported when it vests, not when it accrues — so a single year’s “headline” pay can spike when a long-tail benefit comes due, then drop sharply the year after. Comparing total compensation against the prior year’s 990 (and the year before that) is the most reliable way to spot a one-time vesting event versus a sustained pay level.

The NonprofitTruth Efficiency Score is a 0–100 composite that summarizes four signals from the Form 990: program-spending ratio (50% of the score), revenue-growth consistency over multiple years (20%), months of fund reserves on the balance sheet (20%), and CEO compensation as a share of revenue (10%). The grade A–F mapping is purely descriptive — it summarizes the financial structure that the 990 reveals, not the social impact, program quality, or outcomes of the work the organization does. Donors evaluating impact should pair these financial signals with program-level evaluations from sources like Charity Navigator, GiveWell, or the organization's own audited reports.

All financials on this page come from each organization's IRS Form 990 — the federal information return that 501(c)(3) public charities, private foundations, and most other tax-exempt organizations must file annually. The Form 990 is a public document. We ingest it primarily through the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer feed, which mirrors the IRS Tax-Exempt Organization Search dataset. Original e-file XML and PDF copies of any return can be looked up directly at the IRS, ProPublica, or the Candid (formerly GuideStar) directory.

To check any single executive’s reported compensation, the original Form 990 is available free of charge from the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search, the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, or Candid (GuideStar). ProPublica is usually the easiest way to view multi-year compensation history side by side.