As part of FFE’s ongoing efforts to ensure our benchmarking initiatives provide the greatest value to participating organizations, we have completed a review of the Compensation & Benefits Survey and its role within our portfolio of industry research. Following that review, FFE will sunset the standalone Compensation & Benefits Survey effective immediately.
Over the years, the survey has provided valuable insight into compensation and benefits practices across the fraternal foundation community. However, participation levels, the increasing complexity of compensation reporting, and the availability of broader advancement-sector benchmarking resources have made it increasingly challenging to provide data that is sufficiently representative and actionable for all organizations. At the same time, feedback from members affirmed the ongoing value of understanding staffing trends and capacity, along with leadership structures across our industry.
To continue providing those insights while reducing an additional reporting burden, FFE incorporated workforce-related questions into the annual Industry Survey. Questions focus on foundation staff composition, fundraising staffing capacity, staff retention, executive leadership structure, and executive tenure. This approach allows FFE to continue tracking organizational trends while streamlining data collection into a single, widely utilized survey.
For organizations seeking compensation-specific benchmarking, FFE will encourage the use of several established resources that provide broader nonprofit, advancement, and executive compensation data. Recommended resources include Pennington’s State of the Industry report, the AFP Compensation & Benefits Study, compensation benchmarking available through the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and higher education advancement compensation studies. Together, these resources offer more robust compensation benchmarking while allowing FFE to focus its survey efforts on data and trends that are timely and relevant to the fraternal foundation industry.
Thank you to the many organizations that have participated in the Compensation & Benefits Survey over the years. Your contributions have helped strengthen efforts in team development, competitive compensation, and more. We look forward to continuing to provide meaningful industry benchmarking through an enhanced, annual Industry Survey.
Questions? Contact Assistant Executive Director Desiree Paulhamus.
