The ACEVO Pay and Equalities 2024 survey has once again highlighted that little meaningful change has been made on some of the key issues which continue to affect our sector’s leadership. This includes a highest hitting gender pay gap, a lack of investment in learning and development opportunities, and a lack of diversity across leadership and boards.
The gender pay gap has risen from 8.3% last year to 14.4% this year, reaching its highest since the 2014 survey. Women continue to be overrepresented in the leadership of smaller charitieswhilst male CEOs continue to dominate the leadership of larger organisations. The lack of diversitywithin our sector is still prominent with the number of CEOs from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnic backgrounds remaining static at 7%, and only a third of CEOs currently being satisfied with the ethnic diversity of their boards.
The findings continue to show how leaders at smaller charities are disadvantaged when it comes to the working benefits available to them, with 18% citing none of the prompted benefits were available. Furthermore, small charity leaders are dissatisfied with the time they can commit to strategic planning and professional learning opportunities. A significant majority (85%) feel clear about their role and the direction their board wants them to take. Nevertheless, job clarity documents are notably less comprehensive for CEOs at smaller charities. Whilst 37% feel ‘mostly clear’, 15% feel ‘clear in some areas, unclear in others’, and 2% feel ‘mostly unclear’. These gaps continue to raise concern around career support and development at small charities to retain and nurture leadership.
In early summer 2024, the median annual basic salary reported by sector leaders who completed the survey was £60,000. Disappointingly the frequency of regular salary reviews remains static with a third of respondents reporting no formal salary review process. This figure is unchanged from last year and reflects a persistent gap in salary review practices, particularly in the smaller charities. 46% of the respondents received a pay rise specifically to address the rising cost of living. This indicates a growing recognition of economic pressures on leaders.
49% of respondents reported that they had collaborated or partnered with a private sector organisation in the last year, while a third have restructured their operations or services. Looking forward, a fifth of respondents reported planning to restructure over the coming year, while 15% will collaborate with a private sector. This could indicate that charities are in a period of adjustment and adaptation and have been reevaluating their operations, perhaps in response to financial challenges, changes in demand for services, or changes in funding sources.
Encouragingly, a high level of overall job satisfaction persists with 79% of CEOs satisfied with their roles and 82% feeling empowered to make key decisions. 82% of leaders of small charity respondents still felt generally empowered on decision-making, which is pleasing to see given the consistently lower satisfaction felt on other measures by these leaders. Looking ahead, 72% of CEOs feel likely to remain in the charity sector in the next five years, a figureconsistent with previous years.
Jane Ide, chief executive, ACEVO said:
“For a sector that is driven by purpose and the belief that change can be made real, we seem to be either deeply unwilling or systemically unable to make meaningful change for the people that we task with leading our sector.
We do ourselves no favours as a sector if we try to duck some of the realities that this survey, year after year, puts under the spotlight.
ACEVO’s mission is to empower civil society leaders to maximise their impact for the causes and people they serve. The quality of sector leadership and the impact leaders can have are undoubtedly related to the level of their pay, their rewards and benefits, the opportunities for personal development, their relationship with the organisation’s board, and the time they are enabled to spend focusing on the strategic direction and health of their organisation.
ACEVO is committed to driving change where it is most needed to ensure that our sector is fit for the future with a thriving, supported and enabled leadership. But we need chairs, boards of trustees, funders and others to recognise and acknowledge that the systemic challenges that we have been reporting for well over a decade are putting a brake on that change – and our sector, and the people we are here to serve, are losing out as a result.”
David Saint, chair of Action Planning, sponsors of the report, said:
“For a sector that places such high value on diversity and inclusion, both in service delivery and in recruiting and retaining staff, it is disappointing that these changes are not reflected at the leadership level in many organisations. We can and must do better. It’s encouraging to see that so many CEOs are satisfied with their roles and likely to remain in the sector, but we must ensure this satisfaction isn’t taken for granted. Their hard work and commitment to delivering the best for service users, stakeholders and staff is truly inspiring. In return, we need to invest in them by fostering an environment where they feel genuinely valued and appreciated. Ignoring this would be a grave mistake. Let us use the next twelve months to take steps to make a real change.”
