Seven of the 10 highest-paying executive positions among area nonprofits are in the health care industry.
Health care executives in Springfield earn on average $158,655, the most among 26 categories detailed in Drury University’s 2014 Nonprofit Impact Study.
In his last year as the CEO of CoxHealth, Robert Bezanson earned $1.7 million in total compensation from the Springfield-based health care provider, according to IRS 990 forms filed in 2012, the most recent year available. Mercy’s top-paid local employee in 2011 was Kim Day, who earned nearly $1.3 million as president of Mercy Central Communities, and another Mercy Springfield executive, Jon Swope, was approaching the $1 million mark that year. [Editor's note: Robert Bezanson's 2011 compensation included more than $460,000 in deferred compensation saved for retirement over a three-year period.]
There are five other categories with six-figure averages identified in the nonprofit study, including community improvement/capacity building, $126,260, and philanthropy/grant-making foundations, $100,136.
But Springfield’s nonprofit scene is dynamic, and many leaders make little or no money. Kristal Gaines, founder and president of the Republic Paw Pantry, for example, earns no pay through her 2-year-old organization that provides pet food and supplies to pet owners in financial need.
“I work full time and Republic Paw Pantry is my after-hours full-time job,” said Gaines, who is employed at ProEnergy One Power Staffing.
According to the Nonprofit Impact Study released last month, the average pay for nonprofit executives in Springfield is $88,828. Across the 1,556 nonprofits in the city, executives at religious-based nonprofits averaged $50,000, human services directors were paid $75,566, and education leaders garnered $93,096.
“While the nonprofit industry is enormous and we have some big faces in the community, let’s not forget that the vast majority are little-bitty organizations,” said Dan Prater, director of The Center for Nonprofit Studies at Drury, noting compensation data in the impact report came from the center’s 2013 Springfield Nonprofit Salary & Benefits study.
Prater said more than a third of nonprofits in Springfield offered no benefits. “And they are in survival mode most of the time,” he said.
While there is disparity between large and small organizations, pay is on the rise for the average local nonprofit leader.
According to the study, nonprofit CEO pay in Springfield is up 44 percent in the last seven years. But that doesn’t tell the whole story.
“While there has been a nice increase in salaries, we are still below the national standard – even after you factor in cost of living,” Prater said.
The national average for nonprofit executives was $107,561, according to Drury’s research, and CEO pay in Springfield is 15-20 percent less than comparable positions in metropolitan areas in the region.
Setting pay Jim Anderson, president and CEO of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce who is retiring this summer, said pay for his successor has yet to be determined.
“The salary range is really set by the executive committee,” Anderson said, noting the committee will lean on a consulting firm’s research. “They have to look at chambers of similar size, similar budget, similar operations to look at a salary comparison.”
Anderson, who earned nearly $270,000 in 2011 pay leading the roughly 2,100-member chamber, said he has served on several nonprofit boards over the years, including the United Way of the Ozarks and Urban Districts Alliance, and it is common for boards to look at similar organizations for guidance when determining an executive’s salary.
He said resources boards can use for comparisons include Community Foundation of the Ozarks and GuideStar.org. Anderson said the chamber has performed salary surveys in the past for the nonprofit industry through its nonprofit CEO roundtable group.
Jackie Barger, executive director of Ozark-based Children’s Smile Center and a nearly 30-year nonprofit veteran, said he has researched GuideStar for years to develop a running list of comparable CEO salaries.
“It’s not scientific. It’s for my own internal use,” he said.
From his list, Barger has learned executives at smaller nonprofits typically take home a larger percentage of their organization’s revenue. For example, Brooks Miller, CEO at Jordan Valley Community Health Center, was compensated nearly $260,000 in 2011, roughly 1 percent of the organization’s $23.6 million annual revenue. By comparison, Susan Miles, director of the smaller Champion Athletes of the Ozarks, earned $35,000 in 2011. That’s more than a third of the $94,229 Champion Athletes earned in revenue, according to IRS filings.
“Any board out there, public or private, deals with CEO pay and what are comparable salaries – what they might make in the marketplace and what talents and skills they want their CEO to have,” Barger said. “Most CEOs have marketable skills that are in demand.”
Among the top-earning nonprofit executives in Springfield, Jerald Andrews, president and executive director of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, also earns about a third of the organization’s $1 million annual revenue. In 2011, his total compensation was $322,334, according to the Hall of Fame’s 2012 IRS 990 form. That pay is on the higher side of nonprofits above $1 million in revenue. By comparison, Children’s Smile Center generated $1 million in 2011, and Barger earned just under $60,000, or 6 percent of revenue.
However, Hall of Fame board Chairman Leon Combs said Andrews’ position is unique in that he also oversees the annual Price Cutter Charity Championship golf tournament, which brings in nearly $2.5 million annually. He said part of Andrews’ pay is based on performance – a structure more commonly found in the for-profit sector.
“Jerald has been here 19 years, and he’s brought the Hall of Fame up from nowhere,” Combs said, noting reimbursements for the 50,000 miles of travel Andrews logs each year are part of his compensation. “We’ve never taken a dime of taxpayer money, and all the money that is raised is raised by Jerald and the excellent staff he’s put together.
“Jerald Andrews could be CEO of any organization in the state of Missouri – for-profit or nonprofit. We can’t keep a man like this with a measly salary because he could walk away.”
Passion principle Despite the challenges executives face, Prater said many people work for nonprofits because they feel good about the difference they can have on their communities.
“One of the advantages with nonprofits is that people get to do what they love,” Prater said. “That’s always a selling point.”
Gaines said the nonprofit is a labor of love. Republic Paw Pantry has no employees and runs solely on the backs of volunteers and public donations.
“We help a lot of elderly and people who have lost their jobs or are having to choose between feeding their families or feeding their pets,” Gaines said. “We’re doing this for the love of animals.”
Bontiea Goss, chief operating officer at Alternative Opportunities Inc. – which has 3,000 employees across three states and an annual operating budget of around $100 million – said while nonprofit work can be tough, the rewards make it worthwhile.
“I can’t imagine anyone ever feeling like this is not the best job you could ever have,” said Goss, who earned $176,731 in 2011. “You have an opportunity to every day see that the work you do matters and be surrounded by people who share that value.”[[In-content Ad]]
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