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

Vermont Legislator Calls for $166K Salary Cap for State-Backed Nonprofits

Ruth McCambridge
December 20, 2017
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
Photo from the VTDigger.

December 19, 2017; Burlington Free Press

If any nonprofit board does not yet understand that their high-end salaries are likely to come under scrutiny and have the potential to be held up for public review, they’re governing in the wrong decade. Even as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act makes its way through Congress, complete with a provision to tax high nonprofit salaries, Vermont State Sen. Christopher Pearson has proposed a bill which would mandate that no nonprofit receiving more than $1 million in state funding could pay an employee more than what the governor makes—approximately $166,000—without getting a state waiver.

Is this an attack on nonprofits? Not according to Pearson, who says he hopes to encourage board members to think differently about compensation packages and income inequality.

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.

“Our nonprofits are vital partners to the state. I’m not trying to attack nonprofits across the board,” Pearson says. “I am saying that Vermonters deserve to see the pay scale that our tax dollars support and ask the question of whether or not that’s working.”

“A lot of state dollars end up going to our nonprofit partners,” says Pearson. “Whether it’s mental health providers or hospital CEOs, there are several instances where essentially taxpayers are helping to fund organizations that pay their directors huge amounts of money. And I think it’s important to shine a light on that.”

The provision would not affect most of the state’s nonprofits, since the average Vermont nonprofit executive director earns just over $83,000 annually.—Ruth McCambridge

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

More about: nonprofit salaries wage gapBoard Governanceexecutive compensationNonprofit NewsPolicy

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

NPQ_Winter_2022Subscribe Today
You might also like
Cancelling Student Debt Is Necessary for Racial Justice
Kitana Ananda
To Save Legal Aid, Expand Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Zoë Polk
No Justice, No Peace of Mind and Body: The Health Impacts of Housing Insecurity for Black Women
Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Maile Chand and Andrea Flynn
The Human Impact of the Global Refugee Crisis Must Be Understood—And Acted Upon
Anmol Irfan
Black Americans Need Reparations: The Fight for the CTC Highlights the Roadblocks
Jhumpa Bhattacharya and Trevor Smith
Remaking the Economy: Wage Justice, Now!
Rithika Ramamurthy, Saru Jayaraman, Chirag Mehta and Erica Smiley

Popular Webinars

Remaking the Economy

Black Food Sovereignty, Community Stories

Register Now

Combating Disinformation and Misinformation in 21st-Century Social Movements

Register Now

Remaking the Economy

Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

Register Now
You might also like
Cancelling Student Debt Is Necessary for Racial Justice
Kitana Ananda
To Save Legal Aid, Expand Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Zoë Polk
No Justice, No Peace of Mind and Body: The Health Impacts of...
Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Maile Chand and Andrea Flynn

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.

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.