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Charity Math
Ranking · Form 990 Part VII · Updated November 2026

The highest-paid charity CEOs.

We read the pay of every charity chief executive in the IRS's latest e-filed returns, 91,870 of them. Size explains most of it. The ranking below also shows who takes the biggest share of a small budget.

219
charity CEOs paid $1M or more, outside health care and universities
$4.5M
top pay at a donor-funded charity: Nancy Brown, American Heart Association. Overall: $5.9M at Battelle Memorial Institute, a research contractor.
$120,204
median CEO pay at a charity spending $1–5M
What's normal

Bigger charity, bigger paycheck. Judge pay against size.

$120K
$192K
$306K
$490K
$749K
$1M–$5M
$5M–$25M
$25M–$100M
$100M–$500M
$500M+

Median CEO pay by annual spending, excluding health care and universities. A $1 million salary is ordinary at a $500 million charity and extraordinary at a $5 million one.

The ranking

Ranked by pay, or by share of the budget.

What the charity itself paid its CEO. Pay from related organizations is excluded, and each person is counted once. Health care and universities are hidden by default. A tag marks a tax-exempt organization most donors wouldn't call a charity: 37 of the 219 CEOs paid $1M+ run one.

#CharityCEOPayShare of spendingSpendingYear ending
1 Battelle Memorial Institute
Research contractorScience and technology · OH
Lewis Von Thaer
President & CEO
$5,933,094 0.04% $13.4B Sep 2025
2 The MITRE Corporation
Research contractorScience and technology · VA
Jason F Providakes
President & CEO - Partial Year
$5,896,430 0.25% $2.4B Dec 2024
3 American Heart Association
Disease and disorders · TX
Nancy Brown
CEO
$4,472,946 0.44% $1.0B Jun 2025
4 Atlantic Coast Conference
Sports governing bodyRecreation and sports · NC
James Phillips
President
$4,419,695 0.56% $789.2M Jun 2025
5 SCAN Group
Staffing, insurance or lendingHuman services · CA
Sachin H Jain
President & CEO
$3,970,505 30.32% $13.1M Dec 2024
6 National Collegiate Athletic Association
Sports governing bodyRecreation and sports · IN
Charlie Baker
President
$3,391,089 0.22% $1.6B Aug 2025
7 Optical Society of America
Disease and disorders · DC
Elizabeth Rogan
Former CEO
$3,148,956 5.44% $57.9M Dec 2024
8 Stowers Resource Management
Disease and disorders · MO
Richard W Brown
Dir/President/CEO Deceased 3/27/25
$3,103,954 1.89% $164.6M Jun 2025
9 ISO New England
Power grid operatorEnvironment · MA
Gordon Van Welie
President & Chief Executive Officer
$3,005,894 0.99% $303.3M Dec 2025
10 American Institute for Chartered Property
Testing, standards or credentialingMutual benefit · PA
Peter L Miller
President/CEO
$2,965,200 3.45% $86.0M Dec 2024
11 SRC
Unknown · NY
Kevin Hair
President CEO
$2,947,331 0.85% $346.7M Sep 2025
12 United States Golf Association
Sports governing bodyRecreation and sports · NJ
Mike Whan
CEO
$2,898,388 0.95% $304.3M Dec 2024
13 Halifax Staffing
Staffing, insurance or lendingCommunity improvement · FL
Jeff Feasel
CEO
$2,817,663 0.85% $332.5M Sep 2025
14 Institute of Nuclear Power Operations
Testing, standards or credentialingPublic and societal benefit · GA
Rf Willard
President/CEO
$2,783,867 2.42% $115.2M Dec 2025
15 Community Options
Human services · NJ
Robert Stack
CEO/President
$2,555,721 0.68% $376.0M Jun 2025
16 Association of American Medical Colleges
Education · DC
David Skorton
President & CEO
$2,545,045 0.9% $283.7M Jun 2025
17 The Jackson Laboratory
Medical research · ME
Lon Cardon
President & CEO
$2,515,944 0.41% $617.0M Dec 2024
18 Underwriters Laboratories
Testing, standards or credentialingPublic and societal benefit · IL
T Brady
Fmr President & CEO
$2,469,462 2.24% $110.2M Dec 2024
19 API Fund for Payroll Education
Testing, standards or credentialingEducation · TX
Daniel J Maddux
Executive Director
$2,437,635 19.41% $12.6M Dec 2024
20 In-Q-Tel
Research contractorInternational · VA
S Bowsher
President/CEO & Trustee
$2,436,535 1.82% $134.1M Mar 2025
21 Tarzana Treatment Centers
Mental health · CA
Albert Senella
President/CEO
$2,357,803 1.46% $162.0M Jun 2025
22 Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Medical research · MA · red flag
Laurie H Glimcher
President & CEO Emerita
$2,313,019 0.06% $3.8B Sep 2025
23 American Type Culture Collection
Science and technology · VA
Raymond H Cypess
CEO, Chairman
$2,305,972 1.27% $181.9M Dec 2024
24 Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Arts and culture · NY
Henry Timms
President and CEO Thru 8/1/24
$2,247,343 0.97% $231.7M Jun 2025
25 Boys & Girls Clubs of America
Youth development · GA
Clark James L
President & CEO
$2,246,334 0.82% $273.4M Dec 2024
26 North Oklahoma County Mental Health Center
Mental health · OK
Phillip Tate
CEO (End: 12/24)/Advisor (End:06/25)
$2,244,489 6.24% $36.0M Jun 2025
27 Camba
Community improvement · NY
Joanne Oplustil
Former President / CEO
$2,163,152 0.88% $246.6M Aug 2025
28 Electric Power Research Institute
Research contractorPublic and societal benefit · CA
Arshad Mansoor
President & Chief Executive Officer
$2,132,369 0.41% $516.3M Dec 2024
29 New York Independent System Operator
Power grid operatorPublic and societal benefit · NY
Richard J Dewey
President & Chief Executive Officer
$2,103,170 0.77% $274.8M Dec 2025
30 California Independent System Operator
Power grid operatorPublic and societal benefit · CA
Elliott Mainzer
President & CEO
$2,088,685 0.71% $292.8M Dec 2024
31 Compass Health
Mental health · MO
Tim Swinfard
President/CEO - Compass Health
$2,049,514 0.32% $644.2M Jun 2025
32 Educational Testing Service
Testing, standards or credentialingEducation · NJ
Amit Sevak
President & CEO
$2,032,670 0.27% $756.4M Sep 2025
33 Grand Lake Mental Health Center
Mental health · OK
Larry Smith
Chief Executive Officer
$2,003,344 0.91% $220.7M Jun 2025
34 Zoological Society of San Diego
Animal welfare · CA · red flag
Paul Baribault
President/CEO
$1,993,422 0.51% $391.4M Dec 2024
35 National Youth Advocate Program
Human services · OH
Marvena Twigg
President & CEO
$1,980,676 0.67% $296.0M Dec 2025
36 Endeavor Global
International · NY
Linda Rottenberg
CEO & Co-Founder
$1,964,033 12.75% $15.4M Dec 2024
37 LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee
Sports governing bodyRecreation and sports · CA
Kathryn Carter
Former Chief Executive Officer
$1,950,000 1.19% $163.7M Dec 2024
38 Big East Conference
Sports governing bodyPhilanthropy and grantmaking · NY
Valerie B Ackerman
Commissioner, President
$1,946,154 2.14% $90.7M Jun 2025
39 NSF International
Testing, standards or credentialingPublic safety and disaster · MI
Pedro Sancha
President Ceobod Member
$1,937,069 1.1% $176.8M Dec 2024
40 Audubon Nature Institute
Animal welfare · LA
L Ronald Forman
President & CEO
$1,927,181 3.56% $54.2M Dec 2024
41 The Aerospace Corporation
Research contractorScience and technology · VA
S J Isakowitz
President & CEO
$1,918,234 0.12% $1.6B Sep 2025
42 H Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and
Disease and disorders · FL
Patrick Hwu
Pres/CEO
$1,903,993 0.52% $369.1M Jun 2025
43 Mather
Human services · IL
Mary G Leary
President & CEO
$1,875,195 3.36% $55.8M Dec 2024
44 Social Vocational Services
Employment · CA
Edward Dawson
Executive Director
$1,869,998 1.24% $151.4M Jun 2025
45 Metropolitan Museum of Art
Arts and culture · NY
Max Hollein
Director & CEO
$1,804,586 0.36% $502.0M Jun 2025
46 Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
Research contractorScience and technology · MA
Jerry Wohletz
President and CEO
$1,793,133 0.2% $919.5M Jun 2025
47 The Scripps Research Institute
Medical research · CA
Peter G Schultz
President/CEO
$1,784,580 0.33% $537.5M Sep 2025
48 Noblis
Research contractorScience and technology · VA
Mile K Corrigan
President, CEO, and Trustee
$1,774,122 0.3% $589.8M Oct 2025
49 Firstday Foundation
Human services · TX
Kevin Dinnin
President and CEO
$1,744,771 2.45% $71.2M Aug 2025
50 Southwest Research Institute
Research contractorScience and technology · TX
Adam Hamilton
Pres./CEO/Dir.
$1,739,762 0.19% $935.2M Sep 2025
The CPA read

How to read a charity salary.

Compare to size, not to your own salary.

A CEO running a $400 million organization with thousands of staff is paid like other executives at that scale. The share-of-budget view is the fairer test.

One year can mislead.

Retirement payouts, deferred pay vesting and severance can make a single year look enormous. A "former" title is often the tell.

This is reportable pay only.

We rank W-2 and 1099 pay from the charity itself (Form 990 Part VII). Retirement contributions and benefits are reported separately and are not included.

Not every "charity" asks for donations.

Defense research labs, sports conferences, power grid operators and testing bodies all file as 501(c)(3) charities, and they pay like the large businesses they resemble. We keep them in the list, tagged, because few donors realize they share the label.

The board sets the pay.

Charities must show their pay process on Form 990 Part VI. Outsized pay with an unindependent board is the combination worth questioning.

Method

Where these numbers come from.

Source: every full Form 990 filed by a 501(c)(3) charity in the IRS's e-file releases, using each charity's latest return. The CEO is the highest-paid person whose title is chief executive, president or executive director. Pay is reportable compensation from the charity itself (Form 990 Part VII, column D). We exclude pay from related organizations, because executives of health systems and other groups are listed on every affiliate's return, and we count each person once, at the filing where the charity paid them the most. Causes come from the charity's IRS classification (NTEE code) in the IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File.

Health care organizations (NTEE E, including hospitals, health systems and their foundations) and colleges and universities (B40–B50) are hidden by default because physicians, health-system executives, investment managers and coaches are paid on a different scale. Tick the box to add them back.

Each charity links to its filing, or to its Charity Math page if we have one. Spotted an error? [email protected]

Cite this page

Charity Math, “The highest-paid charity CEOs,” updated 2026-11-06. https://charitymath.com/rankings/highest-paid-charity-ceos/