Running a major nonprofit is difficult. Raising money, managing employees, overseeing complex operations and answering to a board and a myriad of donors are serious responsibilities. Talented people deserve fair compensation.

But somewhere along the way, parts of the American and Israeli Jewish nonprofit world seem to have lost sight of the difference between fair compensation and excessive compensation. When a nonprofit CEO earns $250,000 or $300,000, few people would question whether that person deserves to make a good living.

But when the compensation reaches $700,000, $800,000 or more than $1 million, I think donors have every right to ask a simple question: Why? Why does this particular job require that level of compensation and is that the best use of charitable dollars? 

Consider some 2024 and 2025 base compensation figures at prominent Jewish organizations in the United States, reported in tax returns filed by the organizations themselves:

The president of Friends of United Hatzalah: $557,705

CEO of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces: $658,065

The president and CEO of Birthright Israel Foundation: $659,123

The president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America: $794,404

CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League: $1,127,131

CEO of Hillel (Jewish Campus Life): $698,875

CEO of the Jewish National Fund: $889,303

The president and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews: $792,254

Again: the argument is not that these are bad executives or that they don’t work hard.

The question is whether the Jewish nonprofit community has allowed the definition of “reasonable” compensation to creep steadily upward. When did nonprofit become corporate? 

This is the question that bothers me most. At what point does nonprofit compensation stop reflecting what is necessary to attract excellent leadership and start reflecting the compensation expectations of the corporate world?

A CEO in the corporate world has a primary objective of........

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