logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

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

Bruce S Trachtenberg
April 27, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

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

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Speak of An Angel and You’ll Hear Her Wings
Saphia Suarez
Ecuadorians Fight to Save the Rivers and Forests of the Amazon
Calen Otto
Creative Wildfire: Art for the Frontlines
Iris Crawford
Bailing Out Black Mamas: From Healing to Power
Isaiah Thompson
Can Worker Co-ops Create a Healthier Planet?
Meredith Degyansky
Black Business Group Aims to Narrow Racial Wealth Gap in Massachusetts
Steve Dubb

NPQ Webinars

Group Created with Sketch.
June 14th, 2:00pm ET

Remaking the Economy

Race for Profit

Register Now
June 22nd, 12:30 pm ET

Making Co-CEOs Work

Insights from Leaders Sharing Leadership Successfully

Register Now
Group Created with Sketch.
July 12th, 2:00 pm ET

Remaking the Economy

Tenant Organizing in Unexpected Places

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

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.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

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.