Jane Ide, chief executive of sector leaders’ umbrella body ACEVO, has criticised a lack of progress in the diversity of charity CEOs as her organisation published its latest figures today.
Based on a survey of 1,365 charity CEOs, the ACEVO Pay and Equalities Survey 2024 found that the number of leaders from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic backgrounds remained static at 7%, the same as last year.
Meanwhile, it reported that the gender pay gap in the charity sector has risen to 14.4%, up from 8.3% the year before and its highest percentage since 2014.
According to the ONS, as of April 2024, the UK gender pay gap for full-time employees was 7% and for all employees was 13.1%.
The disparity in pay may be explained by the fact that women are overrepresented in the leadership roles of small charities, while male CEOs continue to dominate the leadership of larger charities, ACEVO’s report says.
Meanwhile, only one-third of CEOs said they were currently satisfied with the ethnic diversity of their boards.
Ide that many of the report findings highlighted that “we seem to be either deeply unwilling or systemically unable to make meaningful change for the people that we task with leading our sector”.
However, 46% of respondents did receive a pay rise specifically to address the rising cost of living, which ACEVO said indicates a growing recognition of economic pressures on leaders.
Leaders of small charities ‘disadvantaged’
ACEVO reported that leaders of smaller charities are disadvantaged compared to their counterparts at larger organisation, when it comes to the working benefits available to them and the frequency of regular salary reviews.
The average annual basic salary reported by sector leaders who completed the survey was £60,000, just over a £1,000 increase from 2023.
However, the frequency of regular salary reviews remained 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”, the report says.
Furthermore, small charity leaders are dissatisfied with the time they can commit to strategic planning and professional learning opportunities.
Some 85% of respondents overall reported feeling clear about their role and the direction their board wants them to take but job clarity documents were reportedly less comprehensive for CEOs at smaller charities.
‘We do ourselves no favours as a sector’
Ide 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 been 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.”
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