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A weekly column on current issues by John A Burton of the World Land Trust. The views expressed are personal, and do not necessarily reflect those of the WLT. Feedback and comments are welcomed.

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salaries for saving the environment

Friday, September 21, 2007

Third Sector Magazine, is probably the most important magazine for workers in the Charity sector. And the back of each magazine has all the current jobs going, particularly for CEOs and senior staff, such as fundraisers.

Out of idle curiosity I spent 20 minutes looking up the charities advertising for new CEOs, and seeing how the salaries compared with Income. What was interesting to me was that a large number of the charities seemed to be paying getting on for 10% of their income on the salary of the CEO. One with an income of £665,000 was paying its Director £50,000, while another with a turnover of under a million was paying £65,000 plus bonuses. The same magazine advertised quite a few jobs in the environment sector -- and there the salaries were noticeably lower. This bears out my experience. Conservationists are paid significantly lower than many other charity workers. But this doesn't bother me unduly (unless it is ridiculously low) since most people if asked, are much happier doing a job they believe in, for lower pay. Job satisfaction counts for a lot. Some of the larger environmental charities to pay 'commercial rates' for some of their jobs -- but the problem then is that you get people who just see the job as another career move. The argument is that you have to pay top dollar to get the best person -- but I am not sure I agree. It all depends how you define the best person. Motivated, enthusiastic and knowledgeable to me would mean best. Competitive, career orientated, driven, might get the job, but not get the same results. Who knows? Any ideas on this?

Labels: General Conservation/Charity Issues

Posted by John Friday, September 21, 2007
 
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1 Comments:

I don't know about CEOs - they are far above my experience :-). Actually, difficulties with CEOS have ranged from seeing the job as a gentle way of subsiding into retirement or pursuing thier own agendas.

But with humbler workers my experience is as you suggest. They are content with a low salary because they are working for a charity (environmental) whose aims they believe in. Working as part of a small enthusiastic team is also part of the job satisfaction.

However, the employer has to show that these employees' efforts are appreciated, so that they do not either leave or degenerate in jobsworths.

By  robert, at 26 September, 2007 08:13  

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