Support For #ShowTheSalary Continues To Snowball

I doubt the editors at The Chronicle Of Philanthropy thought the decision to publish an op-ed by Vincent Robinson trying to convince readers that including salary figures was a bad thing, especially for diversity, would garner a tidal wave of pushback but that’s exactly what happened.

On July 12, 2021 they published a letter to the editor from Mike Geiger, President and CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, where he not only vigorously disagrees with Robinson’s premise on salary transparency. Speaking on behalf of his service organization, Geiger makes it clear where the group stands on this issue.

Not disclosing salary ranges contradicts our field’s emphasis on transparency and accountability, which happens to be a key tenet of the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Code of Ethics. After looking closely at this issue over the last few years, our organization made the decision to require charities using our job site to include salary ranges in their employment postings.

The Chronicle Of Philanthropy also decided to publish an article by one of their editors, Drew Lindsay, that attempts to provide a two sides to every coin perspective where he highlights efforts from those such as Vu Lee.

In addition to the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the article highlights similar decisions to require salary details from NTEN and the Association of Midwest Museums.

Along with the article I published on this topic and in response to Robinson’s points, my colleague Joe Patti weighed in on the topic at his blog, Butts In The Seats, and ArtsHacker.

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Time To Include #ShowTheSalary In The Hiring Process

Showing Salaries Is Finally Catching On So Why Pump The Brakes?

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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