A look at what Merced area charities pay their leaders

Merced County is one of the state’s poorest.

In response, several organizations have sprung up to aid the less fortunate here. From health care and shelter to food and even translation services, nonprofit charities abound.

While the public often concentrates on how much money goes to helping the needy, what nonprofits pay their employees can be overlooked.

In an era called the Great Recession, most of the county’s nonprofit leaders are paid six-figure salaries. Those are equal to or below the pay of their colleagues around the state, but in some cases nonprofit charities in Merced County pay their leaders salaries that match or exceed the salaries of nonprofit CEOs nationwide.

For instance, Christina Alley, CEO of the Central Valley Coalition for Affordable Housing, earns $347,443 in salary and benefits, which far exceeds the average pay of similarly sized nonprofits.

A review by the Sun-Star of the latest tax filings of nearly every nonprofit charity in the county shows that most of the people running the organizations are paid about the same as other nonprofits of equal size, while a few are paid salaries far above the average.

While it’s hard to know what a fair compensation is, a recent study may help. A 2010 charity CEO study conducted by Charity Navigator assesses whether local nonprofit CEOs are underpaid or overpaid. The study noted that the average salary of a CEO for a medium or large charity -- $150,000 -- isn’t necessarily excessive even if it is far above local incomes.

“Many donors assume that charity leaders work for free or minimal pay and are shocked to see that they earn six-figure salaries,” the study reported. “But these well-meaning donors fail to consider that these CEOs are running multi-million dollar operations that endeavor to change the world.” In the Western Pacific, according to the study, the median pay for a charity’s CEO is $139,066. The study further broke down salaries according to the size of the organization. For instance, the median income of a CEO at a large organization (any with a revenue over $13.5 million) was $276,048. The median income for a CEO of a medium-sized organization ($13.5 million to $3.5 million) was $155,442. And the median income for a small organization’s CEO was $95,939. Most nonprofit leaders in Merced County said that nonprofits shouldn’t pay their employees excessively, but they need to pay them competitively. Some said they derive their pay from doing salary studies among similar organizations.

Others said there should be a ceiling on pay for those in charity work. “I don’t think anyone should be making anything more than $120,000 if they are serving the needy and the homeless,” said Herb Opalek, who runs the Merced County Rescue Mission.

Michael Sullivan, Golden Valley Health Center’s CEO, said that nonprofits have to pay competitive salaries. “Most of these nonprofits should be acting like a business. They have to pay competitive wages. Those wages do not need to be out of line with a norm. But to get good quality employees you’re going to have to pay a competitive wage,” he said. Others like Brenda Callahan-Johnson, executive director of the Merced Community Action Agency, said that a reasonable standard may be the federal government’s limit for executives working for organizations running Head Start programs. That number is $169,000.

Candice Adam-Medefind, Healthy House’s executive director, said that each organization is different and therefore setting one pay scale makes no sense.