Public thinks charity chief executives are overpaid by £20,0004

Governance | Vibeka Mair | 20 Jul 2012

The public believes that charity chief executives are overpaid by around £20,000, according to new research by nfpSynergy.

Some 1,000 adults in March were quizzed on their perceptions of acceptable and actual salaries.

If found that on average the public perceives that the acceptable salary for a chief executive of charity with an annual income ranging from £1m-£10m is £51,826, but they believe that chief executives of these charities actually get paid £75,636.

For charities with £10m plus incomes, the public thinks the acceptable salary for a chief executive is £62,352, and they believe they actually get paid on average around £89,603.

For charities under £1m the perceived acceptable salary for a chief executive falls to £38,414. The public think they actually get paid £54,861.

nfpSynergy Data

nfpSynergy also looked at the public perception on pay in other sectors, and found that bus drivers, nurses and social workers are underpaid.

But charity chief executives are coupled with bank chief executives and MPs in terms of being seen as overpaid.

Images

Directory: nfpSynergy

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Margaret Gardner
Marketing and Communications Director
Practical Action
23 Jul 2012

A quick poll designed I guess to get press coverage for NFP. It did that - maybe we can learn. But on the other hand agree the results are meaningless. Shows how the media love a poll!

[Reply]

Barbara
20 Jul 2012

And you know what is the worst of it all? Trustees think we are all overpaid in this sector and should run solely on air and good will!!! Ha ha ha!!!

[Reply]

Jay Kennedy
Head of Policy
Directory of Social Change
20 Jul 2012

What an utterly, utterly pointless piece of research. 'People believe charity CEOs are overpaid as measured against the imaginary numbers they have in their heads.' As Gordon points out, for it to have any meaning you need to inform the respondent about actual levels of salary, then make the comparisons - and even then the value of the exercise is dubious.

[Reply]

Gordon Hunter
Director
Lincolnshire Community Foundation
20 Jul 2012

And all of these figures are completely meaningless unless you give the respondent lots more information:
what is the median CEO salary for charities with income from £1 million to £2 million? (I get three fifths of £40,000 with no benefits, running a £1 million turnover Trust); ditto £2 million to £5 million?
[the £1 million to £10 million range is also meaningless - a Charity with 3 staff making £2 million worth of grants from a £75 million endowment cannot be compared to a service provider with 30 staff and the same turnover].

[Reply]

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