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The 2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey is open to participants now through May. Since 1980, the annual Grantmaker Salary and Benefits (GSB) Survey has provided the philanthropic sector with the most comprehensive data on foundation staff and board compensation. Grantmakers rely on this annual report to inform budgeting, talent recruitment, retention strategies, and personnel policies and practices.

Your participation in the GSB survey is needed—the greater the participation, the greater the insights for the sector and for your fellow Philanthropy Southeast members. Through a partnership with the Council on Foundations (COF), Philanthropy Southeast provides custom salary tables for grantmakers from our region each fall (typically early October).

What are the benefits for participating organizations?

All survey participants (both COF members and non-members) will receive:

• Free access to the GSB Report
• Early access to the report’s data tables
• Access to create custom benchmark reports

Reports and data are expected to be released in fall 2023.

How can your foundation participate?

Visit the COF website to learn more and for detailed instructions on how to complete the survey.

First time completing the GSB survey?

See this page for answers to frequently asked questions as well as a list of documents you’ll need to complete the survey. The Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey lives in Benchmark Central. If you have never participated in a GSB Survey, email your first and last name, title, and email  address to communications@cof.org in order to obtain a Benchmark Central account. 

The deadline to complete this year’s GSB survey will be May 16, 2023. Thank you in advance for your participation!

Philanthropy Southeast’s online Research Library is regularly updated with the latest reports relevant to Southern philanthropy. Members can browse over 500 research reports, websites, case studies, and other resources we have cultivated to help funders stay abreast of trends in the field and learn about emerging best practices in philanthropy. 

Below are some of the key findings and highlights of the newest additions to the Research Library. If you would like to suggest a resource or have other feedback, contact Stephen Sherman, Philanthropy Southeast’s Director of Research and Data, at stephen@philanthropysoutheast.org or (404) 524-0911.

Giving Big: The Impact of Large, Unrestricted Gifts on Nonprofits: Results from Year One of a Three-Year Study of MacKenzie Scott’s Giving
Center for Effective Philanthropy (2022)

In late July 2020, MacKenzie Scott made the shocking announcement that she had given $1.7 billion to 116 nonprofit organizations. The gifts came in the form of large, unrestricted grants with few reporting requirements. CEP has undertaken a three-year research study examining the impact of these large, unrestricted gifts on the recipient organizations. The study shows that these gifts have been transformational for the organizations and their leadership. The recipient nonprofits have used funds to increase their capacity and expand their existing work. A majority believe that the gifts are bringing them closer to achieving their mission, have strengthened their organization’s financial stability, and expanded their long-term organizational capacity. Despite concerns about the recipients’ ability to absorb such large gifts, few organizations have reported any challenges or disruptions to their work as a result of the contributions.

Each year, Philanthropy Southeast partners with the Council on Foundations (COF) to produce salary benchmarking reports for foundation staff and CEOs in the Southeast. These reports include the average, median, minimum and maximum salaries for a range of 36 staff positions at all levels in foundations based in the 11 Southeast states and U.S. Caribbean territories. Salary tables are organized by both grantmaker type and asset size to provide quick access to benchmarking data for foundations of all shapes and sizes.

Salary information for 2022 is drawn from data on more than 10,000 full-time paid staff at over 1,000 grantmaking organizations. The South region accounted for approximately 27 percent of all respondents.

Thank you to all the Philanthropy Southeast member organizations that responded to the 2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey earlier this year, providing the valuable benchmarking data that informs these reports.

The 2022 salary tables for Southeast foundations are available exclusively to Philanthropy Southeast members under the For Members section of our web site – you can click this link to access them directly (login required). 

Philanthropy Southeast’s online Research Library is regularly updated with the latest reports relevant to Southern philanthropy. Members can browse over 500 research reports, websites, case studies, and other resources we have cultivated to help funders stay abreast of trends in the field and learn about emerging best practices in philanthropy. 

Below are some of the key findings and highlights of the newest additions to the Research Library. If you would like to suggest a resource or have other feedback, contact Stephen Sherman, Philanthropy Southeast’s Director of Research and Data, at stephen@philanthropysoutheast.org or (404) 524-0911.

Centering Equity and Justice in Climate Philanthropy
Candid, Ariadne (2022)
This field guide for funders provides an overview of current philanthropic funding for climate justice, identifies common barriers to supporting climate justice strategies, and describes ways to overcome these barriers. The authors share insights and case studies from experienced funders that have shifted their institutions to use a climate justice lens for greater impact within their existing grantmaking priorities. The report finds that intermediary organizations, particularly regranting institutions and pooled funds, are critical partners in the climate justice field. One section profiles several examples of such organizations and offers a detailed listing of national and international intermediaries. The authors close with recommendations for funders interested in supporting climate justice initiatives.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Aging and Older Adults Grantmaking
Grantmakers in Health, Grantmakers in Aging (2022)
To better understand how philanthropy has responded to these challenges over the course of the pandemic, Grantmakers In Health and Grantmakers In Aging launched a joint survey in November 2021 to learn how health and aging funders are addressing COVID-19 related needs among older adult populations and potential long-term impacts on future grantmaking. Findings from this survey showed an increased focus on food security and programs to address social isolation during the pandemic. The infographic also examines changes in grantmaking strategies brought about by the pandemic, which included shifts in the types of programs and interventions funded and an increase in general operating support. Most funders surveyed expected changes in grantmaking to endure beyond the short-term.

Philanthropy Southeast’s online Research Library is regularly updated with the latest reports relevant to Southern philanthropy. Members can browse over 500 research reports, websites, case studies, and other resources we have cultivated to help funders stay abreast of trends in the field and learn about emerging best practices in philanthropy. 

Below are some of the key findings and highlights of the newest additions to the Research Library. If you would like to suggest a resource or have other feedback, contact Stephen Sherman, Philanthropy Southeast’s Director of Research and Data, at stephen@philanthropysoutheast.org or (404) 524-0911.

11 Trends in Philanthropy for 2022
Johnson Center at Grand Valley State University (2022)
This white paper from the Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University projects 11 key trends for the social sector for 2022. Each trend is highlighted in an essay written by a faculty member or expert in the field. Key trends for 2022 include the proliferation of cryptocurrency; reopening of Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals; growth in animal-focused philanthropy; increasing involvement of philanthropy in culture wars; innovations in talent investment; further attention to the decline in household giving; donors of color at the leading edge of new forms of giving; expanding definitions of philanthropy and philanthropists; a new era of engagement with indigenous communities; the rise of data philanthropy; and growing skepticism of social media in the sector.

As a partner on the Get on the Map campaign, Philanthropy Southeast works with Candid to promote data sharing in the philanthropic sector. Candid recently launched its annual data collection campaign, and we invite our members to join this effort by sharing grants data through the eReporting program.

By sharing your grants data with Candid, your organization will help inform resources like the Southern Trends Report and interactive tools like Foundation Maps. Candid data is also helping us track the philanthropic response to COVID-19 and funding to advance racial equity. These resources are used daily by your peers to assess gaps in funding, seek out potential partners, and determine where and how to target their investments.

Your participation is also critical to ensuring that researchers, sector leaders, policymakers, and others have the most complete and accurate picture of Southern philanthropy’s contributions. Delays in IRS processing of Forms 990-PF have made eReporting an even more vital source of current data on foundation grantmaking. Sharing your grants data directly with Candid also offers the opportunity to add enhanced descriptors that ensure grants are presented accurately in Candid’s many resources. We need your help to provide the full picture of philanthropy in our region.

If your organization is already an eReporting partner, thank you! You should have received instructions from Candid for reporting FY21 and FY22 data. Please remember to share your data by June 30, 2022.

If your organization is new to eReporting, it’s easy to share your grants data. You can follow the instructions on this page, or simply email your grants data to egrants@candid.org.

As an added benefit, organizations that participate in eReporting receive an interactive map that visualizes their foundation’s grantmaking (see a sample here). Grants data is also incorporated into our regional giving map, available exclusively to Philanthropy Southeast members.

The 2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey is now open to participants. Since 1980, the annual Grantmaker Salary and Benefits (GSB) Survey has provided the philanthropic sector with the most comprehensive data on foundation staff and board compensation. Grantmakers across the U.S. rely on the survey findings to inform budgeting, talent recruitment and retention strategies.

Your participation in the GSB survey is needed – the greater the participation, the greater the insights for the sector and for your fellow Philanthropy Southeast members. Through a partnership with the Council on Foundations (COF), Philanthropy Southeast provides custom salary tables for grantmakers from our region each fall.

How can your foundation participate?
Visit the COF website to learn more and for detailed instructions on how to complete the survey.

What are the benefits for participating organizations?
All survey participants (both COF members and non-members) will receive a copy of the full GSB report (a $598value), early access to data tables from the report, and access to COF’s benchmarking platform to create custom salary reports. Reports and data are expected to be released in fall 2022.

First time completing the GSB survey?
See this page for answers to frequently asked questions as well as a list of documents you’ll need to complete the survey.

The survey will close on May 10, 2022. Thank you in advance for your participation!

It has been a particularly rough few years for parents with young children, as the COVID-19 pandemic induced school and child care closures. Now that schools and child care programs are largely reopened, parents face a knock-on crisis: a crippling staffing shortage that is shearing an already-scarce child care supply. This child care crisis impacts every Southern state, and philanthropy must act to address it.

The overall child care crisis is caused by structural failure in the economic model. Because America treats child care more like a restaurant than a social good like a public school or library, programs are dependent on parent fees. Yet unlike a restaurant, the fixed costs in child care are so high due to necessarily low child-to-adult ratios – so although the price tag is staggering, programs cannot charge parents the true cost of care. Programs respond to this market failure the only way they can: by cutting educator wages. In 2020, the median wage was slightly above $12 an hour.

This reality left the child care sector barely treading water before the pandemic, but in the face of major retail and fast food companies significantly raising their base compensation, child care programs cannot keep up. As a result, although the overall U.S. economy has recovered to within 2 percent of pre-pandemic staffing levels, the child care sector is languishing more than 12 percent below, a loss of over 100,000 jobs. This is not a pandemic artifact, but the new normal.

Southern states are struggling as much as anyone. A robust study of Louisiana child care programs over the summer of 2021 found that, “84% of site leaders reported asking staff to work more hours or take on additional roles to make up for staffing shortages. Three-quarters worried that staffing issues negatively affected children at their site. Almost half indicated that they served fewer children or turned away families due to staffing challenges, and nearly two-thirds indicated they currently had a waitlist.” The story is similar in Virginia, where “almost all leaders (92%) found staffing their site difficult” and over half reported “losing valuable teachers.”

This rampant turnover creates immense stress on educators and site directors (a workforce heavily made up of women of color). It also stands in opposition to healthy child development; children thrive on caregiver reliability and consistency. In the worst-case scenarios, programs must close permanently because they simply cannot remain staffed at a level that allows for sustainable operations. State data shows that, for instance, Jefferson County (Louisville), Kentucky has lost nearly 10 percent of its child care supply since the start of the pandemic.

SECF’s online Research Library is regularly updated with the latest reports relevant to Southern philanthropy. SECF members can browse over 400 research reports, websites, case studies, and other resources that we’ve cultivated to help funders stay abreast of trends in the field and learn about emerging best practices in philanthropy. 

Below are some of the key findings and highlights of the newest additions to the Research Library. If you would like to suggest a resource or have other feedback, contact Stephen Sherman, SECF’s Director of Research and Data, at stephen@secf.org or (404) 524-0911.

Moving from Intention to Impact: Funding Racial Equity to Win
PolicyLink, The Bridgespan Group (2021)

In the wake of unprecedented philanthropic commitments in 2020, PolicyLink partnered with the Bridgespan Group to analyze the state of funding for racial equity with a focus on high-level donors  – both institutional funders and individual donors. The report was informed by interviews with more than 34 racial equity movement leaders, funders, and others across the equity ecosystem; analyses of Candid data to identify funding trends; and a review of literature to understand what is needed to achieve equitable structural change. The authors discuss what was learned about funders’ intention to contribute toward racial equity, explore what it will take to achieve enduring impact, and offer specific ways that funders can work to close the gap between intention and impact. Recommendations for foundations include increased funding for racial equity, greater support for capacity building and relationship building in the field, and re-evaluating internal practices and investments. 

One of our most popular member benefits – regional salary data for foundation staff and CEOs – has just been updated on SECF.org!

Each year, SECF partners with the Council on Foundations (COF) to produce salary benchmarking reports for foundation staff and CEOs in the Southeast. These reports include the average, median, minimum and maximum salaries for a range of 36 staff positions at all levels in foundations based in the 11 Southeast states. Salary tables are organized by both grantmaker type and asset size to provide quick access to comparable data for foundations of all shapes and sizes.

You can view this data now under the For Members section of our website – or access the information directly here (SECF.org login required).

Salary information for 2021 is drawn from data on nearly 10,000 full-time paid staff at over 900 organizations across the United States. The South region accounted for 27 percent of all respondents.

Thank you to all SECF member organizations that responded to the 2021 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey earlier this year, providing the valuable benchmarking data that informs these reports.