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Topic: Corporate to Non-Profit (D.C. writing salaries)
| Author | Message |
| Corporate to Non-profit | Posted – 8/29/2008 3:51:11 AM | show profile For those of you working for medium to large D.C. / Maryland non-profit agencies: what is the standard salary for experienced writers and/or editors? Also, what kind of compensation packages were you able to negotiate in addtion to salary? |
| Corporate to Non-profit | Posted – 8/29/2008 3:54:24 AM | show profile Note: I'm trying to find info on full-time salaries....also interested in hearing from those in other states as well. |
| maphop | Posted – 8/29/2008 10:28:40 AM | show profile You may be in for a shock; the salary difference between most corporate writing or editing jobs and the positions in the non-profit world are significantly different. For an editor position, you might be looking at $44 - $47K, for a writer (DOE) anywhere from $35 to $39K. If your topic and area of expertise is genuinely unique (science, finance) you might see a 5% to 10% increase. |
| WordyBird | Posted – 8/29/2008 10:44:20 AM | show profile The larger organizations will pay in the 40s for a writer, in the mid 50s for an editor--but you have to be experienced. Less than five years of experience will get you less. The smaller the organization, the smaller the salary. Also, it is far better to negotiate for what you are worth *before* you take the job, because raises tend to be very small percentages and generally don't keep up with the cost of living. It's a trade-off, in my opinion, because overall, benefits tend to be MUCH better at non-profits than private for-profits. In 15 years of working for non-profits, I never *started* at less than 3 weeks of vacation and 12 sick days, plus 3 personal days, and after just a few years (usually 2 or 3), vacation usually goes up to 4 weeks. Employees get vested in their retirement plans sooner, too, often at 3 years as opposed to the 5 to 7 I see at for-profits. If you get in with a health non-profit, you'll have good health coverage, too. At my last non-profit job, basically, I could have gotten hit by a truck and paid nothing other than the standard ER and prescription co-payments. With for-profits, I've found that they offer far less time off (often one week of vacation after a year), and are very cheap with sick time (3-5 days that you can't carry over). Now it may just be me, my niche, and the fact that until now almost my entire career has been in non-profits, but I don't find the pay in the for-profit sector to be all that much better, and in some cases, it's worse, depending on the size and stability of the company. (Unless you're in Manhattan. Then the pay is pretty good, but for me, not worth the 90-minute commute.) And finally--and I know others have very different opinions on this--but unless you get in with a highly civic-minded for-profit, I've found the people at non-profits to be more socially conscious and less focused on money. They do it for the cause, not to get rich. Usually. |
| WordyBird | Posted – 8/29/2008 10:47:46 AM | show profile BTW, just to clarify, my non-profit experience was in the D.C. metro area. I'm in the N.Y. area now. |
| catlondon | Posted – 8/29/2008 11:37:07 AM | show profile Competition for non-profit jobs in D.C., especially at the well-know NGOs, is extremely intense and attracts a large pool of very qualified candidates. Just FYI. You should check out the 990s of wherever you're applying. They have to report the salaries of the five highest paid employees and the number of employees making more than $50,000 per year. |
| Corporate to Non-profit | Posted – 8/29/2008 2:31:14 PM | show profile Wordy Birdy - thanks for the insight. Catlondon - Where would I access the 990's that you referenced? |
| catlondon | Posted – 8/29/2008 3:00:03 PM | show profile Guidestar.org. You need to register but can view the 990s without having the paying membership. |
