Key Numbers and Takeaways

  • 41% of respondents (146/381) have a budget between $1,000,000–$4,999,999.
  • 39.4% of respondents (150/381) have
    roles categorized as “Human Services.” (Organizational categories determined by IRS NTEE codes, definitions of Human Services orgs found here under “P”.)
  • Respondents on average employ 67 full-time employees and 28 part-time employees.
  • Respondents on average employ 51 employees who are people of color, an average of 54% of an organization’s paid staff (FTE and PTE). 
  • Respondents on average employ 6 LGBTQ+ employees and 2.5 employees who are transgender, genderqueer, questioning, self-identified, or gender nonconforming. 
  • Respondents on average employ 27 people who identify as women.

In community organizer positions specifically, defined by the compensation study as “responsible for grassroots outreach efforts, advocacy campaigns, and recruiting and training volunteers to support the outreach efforts of the organization”:

  • 18.11% (69/318) of organizations identify as having community organizers on staff.
  • 57.9% (40/69) of the organizations identify as in the field of Human Services.
  • 42% (29/69) of the organizations have a budget between $1,000,000–$4,999,999.
Job TitleNAverage
Community Health Worker (1)15$47,209
Membership Director (2)16$112,524
Membership Associate (1)15$53,161
Membership Manager (2)21$72,287
Volunteer Manager (2)31$70,320
Volunteer Coordinator (1)30$55,888
Community Organizer (1)69$63,315
Organizing Director (2)30$90,496
Total, All Jobs227$70,650
Lower tier (1)129$54,893
Upper tier (2)98$86,406

Organizations with the highest proportion of community organizers also tend to have health insurance coverage and retirement plans, relative to total respondents.

Does the organization provide health insurance coverage for employees?

RespondentsYesYes %NoNo %
All Respondents326 85.6% 5514.4% 
Subsector
Arts, Culture & Humanities 4712.3%174.5%
Education379.7%71.8%
Environment & Animals 215.5% 51.3% 
International/Foreign Affairs 82.1%0.3% 
Health184.7%20.5%
Human Services14137% 92.4%
Mutual/Membership Benefit 20.5%00.0%
Public/Social Benefit 338.7% 82.1% 
Religion10.3%00%
Other184.7%461.6%
Budget Size
Under $125,000 30.8%51.3%
$125,000–$249,99930.8%153.9%
$250,000–$499,999112.9%174.5%
$500,000–$749,999133.4%92.4% 
$750,000–$999,999174.5%41.0% 
$1,000,000–$4,999,99915239.9%51.3% 
$5,000,000–$9,999,9995414.2%00%
Over $10 million7319.2%00%

Does the organization have a retirement savings plan?

RespondentsYesYes %NoNo %
All Respondents300 
78.7% 

81

21.3%
Subsector
Arts, Culture & Humanities 4010.5%246.3% 
Education328.4%12
3.1% 
Environment & Animals 205.2% 51.6% 
International/Foreign Affairs 92.4%0%
Health184.7%20.5% 
Human Services13034.1% 205.2% 
Mutual/Membership Benefit 20.5%00% 
Public/Social Benefit 307.9% 112.9% 
Religion10.3%00%
Other184.7%61.6%
Budget Size
Under $125,000 20.5%61.6%
$125,000–$249,99930.8%153.9%
$250,000–$499,99992.4%195.0%
$500,000–$749,999123.1%102.6% 
$750,000–$999,999153.9% 61.6% 
$1,000,000–$4,999,99913435.2%236.0% 
$5,000,000–$9,999,9995313.9%10.3%
Over $10 million7218.9%10.3%

In November 2022, New York City instituted a law requiring pay transparency on all job postings. Research indicates that while transparency helps, it can still mask inequalities, especially regarding race and gender. The law in NYC has not been in effect long enough for its impact to be known. However, it created the opportunity to compile a small set of new jobs data from postings alone. 

With more information available in job postings, more detailed—though not necessarily more meaningful—data can be pulled from this smaller data set. This includes three key sets of information: starting salary bands as opposed to the actual pay reported in the NPNY survey data (band size ranges from $2,000–$25,000, and 8 positions indicate no range).

If qualifications include a range of years of experience, the data includes the bottom end of that range. If a job description includes experience in its qualifications without providing a number of years, it was defined as 1 year. This data does not distinguish between preferred and required qualifications regarding experience or degree. Bilingual qualifications are only included if they are required.

Overall minimum$60,296
Overall cap$67,363
Overall average$63,829
Non-managerial minimum$55,943
Non-managerial cap$62,000
Non-managerial average$58,972
Managerial minimum$83,802
Managerial cap$91,502
Managerial average$87,652
Eligible Positions (presumed)Average MinimumAverage Maximum
Unionized (13)$57,786$62,593.86
Non-unionized (14)$54,232$60,696

Thoughts and takeaways:

  • 33% (11/33) of jobs posted are for tenant organizers.
  • The only jobs that do not mention benefits are temporary contracts.
  • 76% (25/33) of postings include a salary band, with the rest including a single amount.
  • Jobs with union representation have slightly higher salaries.

Notes on qualifications:

  • 18% (6/33) of postings mention an advanced degree, even as a preferred qualification.
  • 18% (6/33) of jobs require multiple languages (excludes jobs where bilingual candidates are preferred).
  • Entry level community organizer jobs still require an average of 2 years of experience. (If a posting indicates a range of years of experience, the data reflects the lower end. If a posting indicates experience desired without specifying number of years, the data indicates 1 year of experience required.)
Nonprofit NYNew jobs dataAverage
Non-managerial$54,893$58,972$56,933
Managerial$86,406$87,652$87,029

The difference between the Nonprofit NY study and new jobs data for lower tier
salaries varies slightly (<$10,000), accounting for inflation (3.4% in 2023) with a slight increase to reflect overall wage growth. Given this consistency across data sets, it is reasonable to use the inflation-adjusted average salary from both data sets to arrive at the most accurate estimates.