logo logo
Donate
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Social Justice
    • Racial Justice
    • Climate Justice
    • Disability Justice
    • Economic Justice
    • Health Justice
    • Immigration
    • LGBTQ+
  • Civic News
  • Nonprofit Leadership
    • Board Governance
    • Equity-Centered Management
    • Finances
    • Fundraising
    • Human Resources
    • Organizational Culture
    • Philanthropy
    • Power Dynamics
    • Strategic Planning
    • Technology
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Leading Edge Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Webinars

Nonprofit Newswire | Compensation Slows for Heads of NY Based Cultural Institutions

Bruce S Trachtenberg
April 27, 2010

April 26, 2010; Source: New York Times | Some say it’s the economy, others say it’s increased public scrutiny of nonprofit spending. But whatever the reason, the New York Times finds from a comprehensive survey of cultural institutions across the country that pay for top executives and many of their lieutenants has been frozen or reduced. Jennifer Bol, a consultant at Spencer Stuart, an executive search firm, told the Times: “Most people in senior leadership roles at cultural institutions are at or below where they were in 2008. Growth in these compensation levels really stopped.”

But before you get out your hankies, its important to remember the lofty pay some of these people enjoy. Salaries for 2008 range from a high paid to Thomas Krens, director until that year, of $2.74 million to $194,966 for Julian Zugazagoitia, director of El Museuo del Barrio. And like it or not, pay and related governance issues are becoming more routine topics at board meetings, according to the newspaper. “The times demand it. Our board demands it.” said Alan H. Fishman, chairman of the Brooklyn Academy Music.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Changes to the IRS Form 990 that nonprofits must file, requiring arts organizations to explain their rationale for top executives’ pay is also cited as a reason for changes to executive pay. In an article in the March-April issue of Museum magazine, Maxwell L. Anderson, a former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, writes that the new IRS requirements “effectively stripped away the fig leaves of our cultural executives.” Anderson, who now runs the Indianapolis Museum of Art, adds, “It is a foregone conclusion that excessive compensation and first-class travel will need convincing explanations from here on out.”

Money still matters, however, and several people interviewed for the article say the job can be tough and it “requires a capacity to manage budgets, buildings, programming, artists, contributors, audiences, trustees and public officials across a day that routinely stretches into nights of performances and donor events.” Money also matters when attracting top talent. Commenting on the compensation package worth about $1 million a year that it took to lure Michael Govan from the Dia Art Foundation in New York to become the director of the Los Angles County Museum of Art in 2006, philanthropist and its main benefactor, Eli Broad, said, “He wasn’t looking for a job. We wanted him, and we had to induce him to leave where he was, and the financial package was a major part of that inducement.”—Bruce Trachtenberg

Our Voices Are Our Power.

Journalism, nonprofits, and multiracial democracy are under attack. At NPQ, we fight back by sharing stories and essential insights from nonprofit leaders and workers—and we pay every contributor.

Can you help us protect nonprofit voices?

Your support keeps truth alive when it matters most.
Every single dollar makes a difference.

Donate now
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

You might also like
Get Funds Flowing: Lessons from the Boston Foundation
Candace Burton
Amid Heatwaves, a Growing Concern Rises About Data Centers
Rebekah Barber
How to Navigate the Modern Nonprofit Job Search
Molly Brennan
How Can the Nonprofit Field Better Support Volunteerism?
Jan Masaoka
Return to Office: What’s Happening in the Nonprofit Sector and Why?
Sydney Nicole Sweeney
Latine Community Groups Mobilize to Defend Medicaid Against Cuts
María Constanza Costa

Upcoming Webinars

Group Created with Sketch.
July 24th, 2:00 pm ET

Organizing in Divided Times

The Relational Infrastructure We Need to Protect Democracy

Register
Group Created with Sketch.
September 24th-25th, 2:00 pm ET

Advanced QuickBooks for Nonprofits

Expert Guidance for Experienced QuickBooks Users

Register

    
You might also like
US Capitol Building
Trump Budget Bill Spells Trouble for Nonprofits
Isaiah Thompson
A group of about two dozen students, many wearing blue shirts, walk in the rain in front of the US House of Representatives.
How Nonprofits and Activists Can Oppose Trump’s “Big...
Matthew Rozsa
Conservatives Attack Nonprofits on Capitol Hill
Isaiah Thompson

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright
  • Donate
  • Editorial Policy
  • Funders
  • Submissions

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.