Charity executive pay: what Form 990 shows
Form 990, Part VII lists compensation for the organization's officers, directors, trustees and key employees, plus its five highest-paid other employees over $100,000. On this site we show the role and the amounts, not the name: the linked filing has the names.
The three columns
- Reportable compensation from the organization (column D): typically box 5 of the W-2, so salary and bonus paid in the calendar year that ends in the fiscal year.
- Reportable compensation from related organizations (column E): pay from affiliated organizations, such as a hospital system's parent or a university's foundation.
- Other compensation (column F): retirement contributions, deferred compensation, and health and other benefits.
Our "highest reported compensation" adds all three for the person with the largest total. Severance, deferred compensation paid out in one year, and retirement payouts can make a single year's figure unusually large; Schedule J in the filing explains the components.
How the largest fundraising charities compare
The highest total compensation reported on the latest filing of each of the 50 charities that received the most contributions:
| Charity | Role | Total compensation | Share of expenses |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York University New York, NY · FY2025 | Dean & CEO - NYU Langone Health | $30,286,568 | 0.26% |
| Bank of America Charitable Gift Fd Boston, MA · 2024 | TRUSTEE | $24,062,159 | 2.42% |
| Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, NY · 2024 | PRESIDENT & CEO | $16,660,997 | 2.86% |
| Washington University Saint Louis, MO · FY2025 | CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER | $13,031,999 | 0.24% |
| University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA · FY2025 | HEAD FOOTBALL COACH | $11,802,958 | 0.21% |
| Mass General Brigham Incorporated & Affiliates Group Return Somerville, MA · FY2025 | SEE SCHEDULE O - O & T TITLES | $9,180,758 | 0.04% |
| University of Miami Coral Gables, FL · FY2025 | Head Coach, Football | $8,410,889 | 0.13% |
| Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA · FY2025 | TRUSTEE & PRES.- AS OF 3/13/25 | $8,043,343 | 0.07% |
| Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY · 2024 | Trustee and Former Officer | $7,503,060 | 0.17% |
| Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center New York, NY · 2024 | Board member, President & CEO | $6,979,162 | 0.09% |
| The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · FY2025 | PROFESSOR OF SURGERY | $6,866,322 | 0.10% |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University Redwood City, CA · FY2025 | CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SMC | $6,311,502 | 0.07% |
| Battelle Memorial Institute Columbus, OH · FY2025 | PRESIDENT & CEO | $5,978,396 | 0.04% |
| The Mitre Corporation McLean, VA · 2024 | PRESIDENT & CEO - PARTIAL YEAR | $5,957,132 | 0.25% |
| Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD · FY2025 | PRESIDENT, TRUSTEE | $5,871,487 | 0.06% |
| Yale University New Haven, CT · FY2025 | Chief Investment Officer | $5,384,798 | 0.08% |
| Emory University Atlanta, GA · FY2025 | See Schedule J, Part III | $5,344,555 | 0.07% |
| Duke University Durham, NC · FY2025 | CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER | $5,012,725 | 0.12% |
| Gothic Corporation Durham, NC · FY2025 | DIRECTOR/PRESIDENT | $5,012,725 | 0.21% |
| Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN · 2024 | TRUSTEE/PRESIDENT/CEO | $4,888,096 | 0.08% |
| Mayo Clinic Group Return Rochester, MN · 2024 | DIRECTOR/CEO/PRESIDENT | $4,888,096 | 0.03% |
| The Trustees of Princeton University Princeton, NJ · FY2025 | President of PRINCO | $4,722,776 | 0.15% |
| Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX · FY2025 | PRESIDENT/CEO, EXECUTIVE DEAN | $4,716,352 | 0.16% |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA · FY2025 | President of MITIMCo | $4,462,390 | 0.08% |
| University of Chicago Chicago, IL · FY2025 | EXEC. VP MEDICAL AFFAIRS | $3,295,016 | 0.06% |
| Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Boston, MA · FY2025 | President & CEO Emerita | $2,679,650 | 0.07% |
| Shriners Hospitals for Children Tampa, FL · 2025 | CHIEF OF STAFF | $2,387,804 | 0.20% |
| Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH · FY2025 | President, Ex Officio | $2,148,720 | 0.13% |
| President and Fellows of Harvard College Cambridge, MA · FY2025 | FACULTY | $1,991,045 | 0.03% |
| American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities Memphis, TN · FY2025 | EX-OFFICIO DIRECTOR | $1,713,883 | 0.06% |
| St Jude Children's Research Hospital Memphis, TN · FY2025 | PRESIDENT/CEO | $1,713,883 | 0.09% |
| Trustees of Boston University Boston, MA · FY2025 | PRESIDENT (AS OF 7/1/24) | $1,704,300 | 0.05% |
| Blue Meridian Partners New York, NY · FY2025 | CEO | $1,549,315 | 0.28% |
| Chancellor Masters & Scholars of the University of Oxford New York, NY · FY2025 | Chief Executive of Oxford University Press | $1,486,174 | 0.04% |
| Silicon Valley Community Foundation Mountain View, CA · 2024 | President & CEO | $1,268,486 | 0.04% |
| Feeding America Chicago, IL · FY2025 | CEO | $1,214,028 | 0.02% |
| International Rescue Committee New York, NY · FY2025 | Director, CEO & President | $1,188,792 | 0.09% |
| Alliance for Energy Innovation Llc Golden, CO · FY2025 | PRESIDENT | $1,172,695 | 0.11% |
| Direct Relief Santa Barbara, CA · FY2025 | CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (THRU 12/24) | $1,111,239 | 0.05% |
| National Philanthropic Trust Jenkintown, PA · FY2025 | FORMER PRESIDENT & CEO | $1,063,757 | 0.02% |
| Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC · FY2025 | SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN | $1,038,055 | 0.06% |
| American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches Washington, DC · FY2025 | PRESIDENT & CEO AS OF 7/1/2024 | $989,075 | 0.03% |
| United States Fund for UNICEF New York, NY · FY2025 | Director/President/CEO | $976,864 | 0.16% |
| Donor Advised Charitable Giving Lone Tree, CO · FY2025 | PRESIDENT | $967,879 | 0.01% |
| THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS Of the University of Cambridge New York, NY · FY2025 | Chief Executive - CUP&A | $959,549 | 0.03% |
| The Nature Conservancy Arlington, VA · FY2025 | DIRECTOR/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER | $936,855 | 0.07% |
| Gavi Alliance Washington, DC · 2024 | COO & ACTING CFO - UNTIL 06/24 | $869,845 | 0.03% |
| Jewish Communal Fund New York, NY · FY2025 | EXECUTIVE VP AND CEO | $774,873 | 0.07% |
| The Chicago Community Trust Chicago, IL · FY2025 | President & CEO | $685,048 | 0.05% |
| The Research Foundation for The State University of New York Albany, NY · FY2025 | CIO, STONY BROOK FOUNDATION | $656,781 | 0.04% |
The median highest compensation across all 25,343 covered charities is $359,596. Pay tends to scale with the size and complexity of the organization; hospitals and universities report the largest figures. The IRS requires that compensation be reasonable and set by an independent process (Part VI, line 15 asks whether the charity used one).