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Kane: Post-recession, nonprofits still strapped for cash

The 2008 recession hit the nonprofit industry hard. A CompassPoint study found that while the median nonprofit executive director earned $90,000, the median development director the employee tasked with securing grants from foundations earned $65,000.

The funding base of many foundations has increased substantially in recent years, but this increase has often not been accompanied by an increase in grantmaking. If grantmakers continue these practices, nonprofits seeking to ameliorate the effects of the recession on low- and middle-class Americans will not have enough funding to keep the lights on much less move the needle on their missions.

A Grantmakers for Effective Organization’s report found nonprofits generally spend about 20 percent of their grant funding on operating costs those not directly associated with their mission.