The 2026 Nonprofit Compensation Report: What the Newest IRS Filings Show — and How Far Behind the Market They Already Are

Finding 1 — The 990 lag, in dollars

The projected market runs 8.7% ahead of filed pay. Across 45,046 organizations' newest Schedule J filings, the median chief executive figure is $232,037 as filed and $252,132 projected to December 31, 2026, a gap of $20,095.

Every 990-based compensation source shares a structural problem: by the time a filing is public, the compensation in it is years old. This report prices that lag. Each organization's chief executive compensation from its newest Schedule J filing was aged to December 31, 2026 from December 31 of the calendar year its pay was reported for (Part VII and Schedule J report pay for the calendar year ending with or within the fiscal year). The growth applied is the pay growth of the position, measured in the filings themselves: the chief executive of the same organization from one fiscal year to the next, whoever held the role (the year pairs of Finding 3). The 2025 pay year is measured on the filings received so far. For 2026, which the filings do not yet cover, the projection uses the Congressional Budget Office's Employment Cost Index forecast, adjusted to the growth measured in the filings. How far the projected market runs ahead of the filed figure, by filing vintage:

The curve is the finding: the gap shrinks as filings freshen, and it never reaches zero. Across the full cohort (as of the October 2026 corpus), the median projected to December 31, 2026 runs 8.7% ahead of the median chief executive figure in an organization's newest Schedule J filing. A filer whose fiscal year ends in June is aged from the December before, because that is when the pay it reports was earned. CauseComp's product projection, which ages each filing from the same date at the raises the same person received in the same role, gives 9.6% on the same cohort.

What it means for boards: a compensation decision anchored to raw 990 comparables is anchored to a market that no longer exists. The correction is knowable and quantifiable — this is it.

FY2018 36.4% (355 orgs)

FY2019 34.8% (368 orgs)

FY2020 29.2% (610 orgs)

FY2021 25.9% (804 orgs)

FY2022 21.1% (1,110 orgs)

FY2023 14.5% (1,722 orgs)

FY2024 8.1% (15,404 orgs)

FY2025 6.8% (24,504 orgs)

Percentage by which the median projected to December 31, 2026 runs ahead of the median filed chief executive figure

Vintage rows publish at n ≥ 200; the FY2026 vintage row (n = 169) is suppressed.

Finding 2 — What size does to the corner-office paycheck

Median chief executive total compensation by budget size, from the newest filing of 124,906 organizations (Form 990 Part VII and Schedule J combined — see methodology for why the combined basis matters):

The curve is smooth, steep, and monotonic: from the median $52,000 at the smallest organizations (a band that includes many part-time executives) to $1,483,008 at $500M+ systems — a 28.5-fold spread that no single "nonprofit CEO pay" number can honestly summarize.

The spread inside one band is wide too. From $500K to $50M, the middle half of chief executives in a band (25th to 75th percentile) spans about 1.9 times from bottom to top (1.87 to 1.92 by band), and splitting each band at its median budget still leaves 1.84 to 1.94, so the width of the band does not explain it. That is why the comparison group matters more than a band median: see comparability data in practice and nonprofit compensation peer groups.

<$500K $52,000 (40,381 orgs)

$500K–$1M $88,834 (18,636 orgs)

$1M–$2.5M $116,580 (22,432 orgs)

$2.5M–$5M $154,281 (13,917 orgs)

$5M–$10M $190,323 (10,580 orgs)

$10M–$25M $240,164 (9,295 orgs)

$25M–$50M $313,793 (4,295 orgs)

$50M–$100M $417,087 (2,491 orgs)

$100M–$500M $641,206 (2,195 orgs)

$500M+ $1,483,008 (684 orgs)

Median chief executive total compensation, newest filings, combined Part VII + Schedule J basis

Medians from each organization's newest filing; the <$500K band includes many part-time executives and is Part VII only. Budget bands are a display of filings, not how CauseComp's benchmark is computed.

Budget bands on this page are a display of the filings. CauseComp's benchmark is not computed in bands: its model is continuous in revenue.

Pay mix and bonuses, at $10 million and up

Schedule J breaks the chief executive's pay into parts: base salary, bonus, other pay, retirement and deferred pay, and nontaxable benefits. It covers a chief executive paid above $150K, so the parts are shown only from $10 million in revenue up, where Schedule J covers at least 86.1% of each band's chief executives in Finding 2's group. The table covers chief executives in each organization's newest Schedule J filing. These are the filings' own figures: each part as a share of the chief executive's Schedule J total as filed, a blank cell counted as $0, so the medians need not add to 100%. Base salary shows its median share; every other part shows the share of chief executives who received it and, among them, its median share of pay. A chief executive whose Schedule J pay elements are all blank or zero is left out (counted in the table). The bonus columns use the definition behind the bonus line in CauseComp's benchmarks, but the line is measured across all executive roles by pay level, and this table is measured for chief executives by organization size, so the two figures are not the same statistic. For the form itself, see Form 990 Schedule J.

Share of the band's chief executives (Finding 2) reported on Schedule J is the share of chief executives in Finding 2's count for that band (each organization's newest return) whose pay is reported on Schedule J rather than Part VII only. This table's counts come from a separate cohort, each organization's newest Schedule J filing, so they do not divide into Finding 2's counts to give the share shown.

Base salary's median share of pay falls with size, from 87.4% at $10M–$25M to 61.1% at $500M+. The share of chief executives paid any bonus rises, from 35.2% to 78.4%, and so does the bonus's median share of pay among those paid one, from 9.3% to 25.0%. For the pay of the second-highest-paid executive as a share of the chief executive's, see the second chair.

Finding 3 — CEO pay tracked wage growth (the Employment Cost Index) almost exactly — but not for everyone

Holding organizations constant (same organization, same disclosure source, fixed endpoints), the median organization's chief executive pay rose 21.5% from FY2019 to FY2024 — against 21.1% compound growth in the Employment Cost Index over the same years. In aggregate, nonprofit CEO pay tracked the broad labor market almost exactly.

Underneath, a U-shape by size: growth was lowest in the middle, 18.6% at $2.5M–$5M, against 23.8% at the smallest organizations (<$500K) and 27.3% at $50M–$100M organizations, the highest of any band.

Year over year, median growth in the same organizations ran 3.1% to 3.2% in the pairs from FY2018→FY2019 to FY2020→FY2021, and 4.4% to 5.0% from FY2021→FY2022 to FY2024→FY2025. FY2025 filings are still arriving, so the last pair may move.

All organizations +21.5%

Employment Cost Index +21.1% (benchmark)

<$500K +23.8%

$500K–$1M +22.9%

$1M–$2.5M +19.9%

$2.5M–$5M +18.6% (lowest)

$5M–$10M +19.5%

$10M–$25M +22.4%

$25M–$50M +25.4%

$50M–$100M +27.3%

$100M–$500M +25.3%

$500M+ +25.0%

Cumulative growth in chief executive pay at the median organization, same-organization endpoints

Holding organizations constant: same organization, same disclosure source, fixed FY2019/FY2024 endpoints.

Finding 4 — State rankings, adjusted for what states actually contain

Raw state medians mostly measure each state's mix of small and large nonprofits. This report standardizes: each state's pay is scored at the national budget-size mix, and the score is divided by a national reference computed over the same budget bands, so a state with no usable cell in a band is not compared with pay in that band. States are ranked on that ratio, printed as % of national; the size-adjusted index is printed as the level. The national mix is that of every organization in the cohort, including those whose filing records no state or a territory, as in the July edition. All 50 states + DC qualify under the publication gates (state n≥100; every cell n≥10; ≥80% weight coverage). Organizations whose newest filing records no state (2,085) are left out.

Presentation: an exact rank is printed only for a state whose rank came out the same in at least 95% of 1,000 resamples of the October 2026 data (each state's organizations resampled within each budget band, and the ratio re-scored); every other state shows its quartile band, in table and prose, because rank order there moves with the data. The size-adjusted index AND the unadjusted median are printed for every state, because the index is a comparison score, not "typical pay." Ranks compare reported pay; they are not adjusted for local cost of living.

In this edition DC, VA and WV hold their rank on that test (DC rank 1, at $198,255 and 140.9% of national, VA rank 2, at $169,238 and 120.3% of national and WV rank 51, at $93,695 and 75.5% of national). Every other state shows its quartile; the order within a quartile is not stable.

State	Rank / quartile	Size-adjusted index	% of national (same bands)	Unadjusted median	Organizations (n)
DC	1	$198,255	140.9%	$212,725	3,047
VA	2	$169,238	120.3%	$125,000	3,515
NJ	Q1	$156,400	111.2%	$128,054	2,217
NY	Q1	$156,089	111.0%	$138,449	8,774
MA	Q1	$151,706	107.8%	$135,666	3,765
CA	Q1	$149,074	106.0%	$123,854	14,293
CT	Q1	$141,086	105.8%	$126,984	1,574
DE	Q1	$124,197	105.2%	$113,306	471
MD	Q1	$147,954	105.2%	$116,513	2,643
IL	Q1	$144,349	102.6%	$111,747	4,724
RI	Q1	$136,285	102.2%	$116,190	561
WA	Q1	$141,503	100.6%	$101,716	3,665
GA	Q1	$141,122	100.3%	$95,202	3,076
NV	Q2	$133,419	100.1%	$106,137	617
AZ	Q2	$140,650	100.0%	$100,544	2,028
FL	Q2	$140,347	99.8%	$109,808	4,826
WI	Q2	$131,739	98.8%	$100,160	2,620
ND	Q2	$116,606	98.8%	$108,991	491
TX	Q2	$138,866	98.7%	$96,500	6,903
HI	Q2	$115,353	97.7%	$106,819	625
MI	Q2	$137,139	97.5%	$105,141	2,992
IN	Q2	$137,129	97.5%	$94,095	2,485
MN	Q2	$137,111	97.5%	$103,354	3,156
CO	Q2	$136,990	97.4%	$102,071	3,439
MO	Q2	$136,341	96.9%	$102,310	2,294
NE	Q2	$128,788	96.6%	$100,000	895
OH	Q3	$135,699	96.5%	$99,500	4,115
AK	Q3	$122,343	96.0%	$101,225	587
UT	Q3	$118,495	95.4%	$107,813	759
LA	Q3	$126,933	95.2%	$96,731	1,387
NH	Q3	$125,912	94.5%	$95,000	760
PA	Q3	$132,018	93.8%	$110,690	5,106
IA	Q3	$124,999	93.8%	$98,528	1,348
NC	Q3	$131,369	93.4%	$87,074	3,678
OR	Q3	$123,142	92.4%	$95,310	2,656
SC	Q3	$129,320	91.9%	$90,000	1,467
OK	Q3	$122,475	91.9%	$83,562	1,246
ID	Q3	$113,919	91.8%	$88,470	625
KS	Q3	$121,737	91.3%	$93,641	1,269
ME	Q4	$121,177	90.9%	$90,680	989
TN	Q4	$127,228	90.4%	$90,000	2,450
SD	Q4	$106,179	89.9%	$92,487	514
KY	Q4	$125,623	89.3%	$93,475	1,320
AL	Q4	$119,002	89.3%	$85,389	1,291
NM	Q4	$109,195	88.0%	$86,560	902
MT	Q4	$116,385	87.3%	$82,272	1,044
MS	Q4	$109,367	85.8%	$81,255	673
WY	Q4	$93,140	84.1%	$76,814	410
VT	Q4	$110,825	83.1%	$82,804	769
AR	Q4	$110,516	82.9%	$85,599	787
WV	51	$93,695	75.5%	$81,646	680

States are ranked on % of national: the state's size-adjusted index over a national reference computed over the same budget bands as the state's index, so the dollar index need not fall in rank order. Rankings are nominal — no cost-of-living adjustment. The size-adjusted index is a comparison score, not "typical pay" — the unadjusted median is the "typical" number. An exact rank is printed only where the rank came out the same in at least 95% of 1,000 resamples of the October 2026 data; every other state displays its quartile (Q1–Q4 by rank). This exhibit is computed on the October 2026 corpus; the July 2026 edition's Exhibit R4 is in that edition's PDF.

Finding 5 — What a new chief executive is paid, against the predecessor

Where an organization's chief executive changed between tax years t and t+1 (the change rule on the chief-executive turnover page), the successor's pay at t+2 is compared with the predecessor's at t, beside chief executives who stayed from t through t+2. Base years 2017 to 2022; organizations with $1 million or more in revenue at t, in that page's budget bands.

Differences are computed before rounding, so a printed difference can be a tenth of a point away from subtracting the printed figures: at $1M–$2.5M, +7.6% against +10.1% prints as 2.6 points.

At $1 million and up, a successor's pay at t+2 was a median +5.1% against the predecessor's at t, while chief executives who stayed moved a median +10.9% over the same two years: 5.8 points less for the newcomer. The gap widens with size, from 2.6 points at $1M–$2.5M to 13.4 points at $50M and over, where 49.6% of successors were paid less than their predecessor. The successor's median sat below the stayers' in every base year from 2017 to 2022. This is not a causal effect: a stayer's change includes raises for time in the role, and a long-serving predecessor's pay can carry the same premium.

Finding 6 — The expanded §4960 excise tax (published July 2026)

CauseComp's standalone analysis — to our knowledge, the first data-based estimate of the reach of the expanded Section 4960 excise tax — found the 2025 law change reaches an estimated 734 to 1,302 additional employees earning over $1 million (a 25–28% increase over the old top-five rule) while adding essentially zero newly exposed organizations, concentrated at hospitals, universities, and $500M+ budgets. Full analysis, methodology, and caveats: causecomp.org/research/section-4960-expanded-reach. (That analysis is pinned to its own recorded data vintage and is not restated here.)

Methodology (summary)

• Corpus: 2.29 million compensation records from IRS Form 990 filings (Part VII and Schedule J) across 195,000+ organizations, in the corpus as built on October 21, 2026; newest filing per organization; person-level dedupe; "former"-titled rows excluded.
• De-duplication: filings are de-duplicated as in CauseComp's other research: one return per organization and tax period, the later return where an organization filed two periods in one tax year, and Part VII rows that duplicate a Schedule J row removed. Against the same funnels without it, no published percentage moves by more than 0.4 points, and none of the 61 published dollar figures (band medians and state indices) changes.
• Fiscal years: as in the July edition, "FY2025" is the fiscal year ending in 2025. Finding 5 counts tax years (the year a fiscal period begins), as the chief-executive turnover page does.
• Combined disclosure basis for descriptive findings: Schedule J has a $150K disclosure threshold, and in CauseComp's corpus Schedule J rows come only from filings that report at least $500K in revenue (an extraction floor CauseComp applies; the IRS sets no such rule), so Schedule-J-only medians overstate pay at small budget bands, by as much as 103.5% (at $500K–$1M). Findings 2–4 therefore use the combined Part VII + Schedule J basis; the <$500K band is Part VII only. The Schedule-J-only curve is not published as "CEO pay."
• Budget bands: the bands are a display of the filings, by the revenue each return reports. CauseComp's benchmark does not use them; its model is continuous in revenue.
• Cohort-constant growth: every growth statistic compares the same organizations to themselves (consecutive-filing pairs; fixed FY2019/FY2024 endpoints). Growth prices the position, not incumbent raises.
• Projection is confined to Finding 1: each filing is aged from December 31 of the calendar year its pay was reported for to December 31, 2026, at the position's pay growth measured in the filings (the same-organization year pairs of Finding 3; the 2025 pay year on the filings received so far); for 2026, which the filings do not yet cover, at the Congressional Budget Office's Employment Cost Index forecast, adjusted to the growth measured in the filings. Pay reported for calendar years before 2018 falls outside what that growth covers and is left out (249 organizations). Findings 2–5 are raw-panel descriptive statistics.
• Minimum-n gates on every published cell (band cells n≥10, vintage rows n≥200, state gates as above, the pay-mix table and Finding 5 n≥30); cells below gate are suppressed, not estimated. Suppressions this edition: the FY2026 vintage row (n=169) and every FY2025→FY2026 pair cell (FY2026 filings are still arriving).
• Vintage discipline: the overall lag figure is stated as of the October 2026 corpus and moves with each refresh, because it measures the mix of filing vintages. The per-vintage rows move too when the projection or the filings change, as this edition's did.
• Every figure derives from committed, deterministic analysis scripts. Aggregates only — this report names no organizations and no individuals.

Caveats log

1. (a) Finding 1: cohort is Schedule-J basis; small-band selection bias does not materially bite a within-cohort ratio (the same orgs appear in numerator and denominator).
2. (b) Finding 1: fiscal-year labeling. Part VII and Schedule J report pay for the calendar year ending with or within the fiscal year, so for a non-calendar filer (for example, a June 2024 year-end) the pay is from the prior calendar year; this edition ages each filing from the end of the calendar year its pay covers.
3. (c) Finding 3: the Employment Cost Index comparator compounds the BLS series for civilian workers' total compensation, fourth quarter to fourth quarter, over 2020–2024, all measured years; the July edition's comparator was 21.4% on the ECI table as it then stood.
4. (d) Finding 1: the projection uses position growth measured in the filings through the 2025 pay year, whose filings are still arriving; for 2026, which the filings do not yet cover, it uses the Congressional Budget Office's Employment Cost Index forecast, adjusted to the growth measured in the filings, to December 31, 2026.
5. (e) Findings 3 and 4: Part VII and Schedule J comp totals are near- but not perfectly-identical definitions; the per-person Schedule-J-preferred pick and the same-source rule for growth pairs prevent definition mixing inside any single statistic.
6. (f) Findings 2 to 4: the corpus keeps a Part VII row only at 20 or more hours a week and $10,000 or more in reportable pay, and Schedule J rows carry no hours filter, so the <$500K and $500K–$1M cells can still include part-time EDs (visible in P25 $31,592); a "typical full-time ED" framing needs that caveat or an hours-gated variant.
7. (g) Findings 2 to 4: budget bands group filings by the revenue each return reports; they are a display, not the benchmark's method.
8. (h) Finding 4: the state index is a composite and nominal (no cost-of-living adjustment); see the methodology notes on this page.
9. (i) Finding 4: territories excluded by the state gate (AE, AS, GU, MP, PR, PW, VI).
10. (j) Pay mix and bonuses: chief executives in each organization's newest Schedule J filing only, those whose pay elements are all blank or zero left out; filings before fiscal year 2018 are left out, as in Finding 1; between 2.3% and 16.4% of bonus cells are blank by band and count as no bonus.
11. (k) Finding 5: pay is reportable pay from the organization; a partial-year salary at the start or end of the span is not fully removed; names are matched by rule, so a small share of changes are missed or invented; 5,000 changes whose successor was not in place by t+1 are left out.

Vintage-sensitivity notes (October 2026 corpus)

• Finding 1 overall lag: vintage-sensitive by construction — it is a mix-weighted average over filing vintages; every corpus refresh will move it. Date-stamped.
• Finding 4 state rankings: levels are steadier than ranks; mid-table ranks move with cell composition, which is why only resample-stable ranks print exactly.
• Finding 4 coverage: the lowest weight coverage of any published state is 92.3%, against the 80% floor.

About CauseComp

CauseComp publishes compensation benchmarks for U.S. nonprofit organizations, built from IRS Form 990 filings and federal wage surveys — 2M+ compensation records. This report is free to cite with attribution and a link. The CauseComp product gives executive and workforce benchmarks by role, organization size, sector and state, with board-ready PDFs and named comparables sets drawn from Form 990 filings, at causecomp.org.

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