Lead Newsletter Articles

Progress!
 
I am pleased to report that the 2005 survey conducted by the AFP-Greater New York Chapter found no statistical difference in salaries by gender.
 
Both men and women are earning salaries as high as $300,000 or more. Of the 2200 AFP members and nonmembers surveyed, 386 (17%) responded, 70% of whom were women. Respondents tended to be older (29% were 50-55 yrs of age); highly educated (49% held masters degrees); and working for larger institutions (47% had budgets of $10M or more). Many (37%) are earning $61,000-100,000 and most (63%) were or are currently working in a community-based or human services organization. Interestingly, only 10% of respondents held a Certified Fundraising Executive Certificate (CFRE).
 
GuideStar, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The NonProfit Times, and AFP International have all produced salary surveys that show a gender gap for fundraising professionals (nation wide and in New York State) ranging from 10 to 46%. GuideStar has also reported that more men are in top positions at middle and large size institutions, while women dominate the top positions at smaller institutions. Not surprising, the larger the institution, the more management responsibilities, the higher the salary.
 
While it does not represent a broad cross-section of the development field in metropolitan New York, the AFP-GNY salary survey may be the first in the nonprofit sector to find no statistical difference by gender.
 
This is great news, especially given the wage statistics across the country.

Nation Wide
 
It has been over four decades since President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law, making it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who hold the same job and perform the same work. Yet pay inequity persists.
 
Nation-wide for all women in all fields, the gap has lessened by 10% in the last fifteen years. Women now earn 79.5% as much as men. However, 60% of this increase is a result of the slip in men’s wages in terms of real dollars. If this rate of “progress” continues, women across the country will be at parity in 50 years.
 
The wage gap persists even when factors such as family choices and work experience are eliminated. Numerous studies show that even when women make the same career choices as men and work the same hours, they still earn less.
 
Systemic discrimination occurs when jobs pay less because women and minorities hold them. Since approximately 70% of fundraising professionals are female, does this mean that salaries overall, even in New York, are less or slower to grow? Will the profession become “ghettoized” like other all-female professions? What are we doing right in New York?
 
In New York at least some of our female fundraisers are earning the same as their male counterparts. We can attribute this in part to the New York’s two premier professional associations for fundraisers: AFP-Greater New York Chapter and Women in Development, New York. Both have excellent networking, mentoring, and skill building programs. At AFP, women benefit from the support of both men and women and an underpinning of an internationally recognized code of professional ethics.
 
Women can credit themselves—like their savvy male counterparts—for practicing the fundamentals of professional success:

• Adhering to high standards of professional ethics, performance and continuing education
• Taking risks, trusting instincts and adapting to change
• Volunteering for visible assignments
• Building strong networks
• Being mentors and role models
• Inspiring/motivating others
• Effective problem solving
• Working hard
• Taking jobs with greater management responsibility
• Negotiating higher salaries and raises

Women may also benefit from demographics: as baby boomers age and women outlive men by an average of seven years, women are controlling more wealth. It may be that more women are joining nonprofit boards and influencing hiring decisions for the top development positions.
 
The Economist (September 23, 2005) argues that globalization is a factor; “women are better at multitasking, team building and communicating, essential skills for running a 21st century enterprise.”
 
New York itself is probably another factor. We like to think that regardless of gender the smartest, most talented and ambitious people live and work here.

At What Price?
 
In the for-profit sector, recent studies suggest that most successful women sacrifice more of their personal and family life for their careers.
 
Marriage
Catalyst surveyed 1200 women and men in senior executive positions at 10 major US companies in Canada, US, Western Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. It found:

• 79% of the women surveyed were married
• 94% of the men surveyed were married
• 74% of women have spouses/partners who worked full-time
• 75% of men have spouses/partners who were not employed

In other words, the men had assistance at home. In The New York Times (October 30, 2005), Maureen Dowd wrote about a study conducted by psychology researchers at the University of Michigan. It found that men who wanted long-term relationships would rather marry women in subordinate jobs than women who are supervisors.
 
The hypothesis offered? Men think that women in important jobs are less likely to be monogamous. Men marry “down” to minimize the risk of raising offspring that are not their own. Successful women are “penalized for being too independent.” Dowd speculates this could lead to “an epidemic of professional women missing out on husbands and kids.”
 
Children
In a nation-wide survey conducted by the National Parenting Association, 49% of women earning over $100,000 did not have children, compared to 19% of the men.
 
The Catalyst study also found that more women reduce their career aspirations after having children.
 
Care Giving
The Economist (7/23/05) points out that more female baby boomers are withdrawing at the cusp of their executive potential and earning power to take care of elderly parents, which exacerbates the long-held belief that women “bail out” of the corporate world for family reasons. So, organizations ask “why should we invest in women’s careers”?

What’s Next?
 
Let’s consider a broader survey of metropolitan New York’s fundraising professionals—perhaps in collaboration with a research organization—to obtain a full picture of salaries by level of responsibility and by gender. We should also ask more questions about lifestyle choices to learn whether success in the nonprofit sector is coming at a greater price for women. Or is the price just different for men and women?
 
Let’s celebrate that we in the New York nonprofit sector are making progress in dispelling gender inequities and stereotypes, and let’s keep up the good work!

Linda C. Hartley, is the President of Hartley Consulting, Inc. and Vice President of AFP-Greater New York Chapter, Governance and Public Policy.

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