S.F. Gave These Homeless Nonprofits Nearly $2 Billion. The Salaries of Their Execs Might Surprise you
Joan Harrington, a fellow at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, said board members are required to conduct a comparability analysis, where they consider the organization's complexity and fiscal health and executive pay at other private companies or nonprofits of a similar scale.
As a board member, Harrington said, "you want maximum performance and to be able to attract the best people… but without crossing that line where it's hard for people to justify how someone could earn that much money."
"Nonprofit executives are not supposed to starve to serve social service organizations," she added. "We want them to be properly compensated so they stay in their jobs and do good."
Joan Harrington, Ethics Center fellow, quoted by .
Jun 27, 2025