“Frustrating & worrying” lack of progress on racial equity at most senior levels, survey shows
Melanie May | 16 October 2023 | News
Lack of progress persists on key issues affecting the sector’s leadership, including the gender pay gap and racial equity, according to ACEVO’s Pay and Equalities 2023 survey.
Released today (16 October), it shows “no discernible progress” in the proportion of CEOs from Black, Asian, and Minoritised Ethnic backgrounds. Alongside this, the gender pay gap remains “stubbornly substantial”, with women predominantly occupying leadership roles in smaller charities, and perpetuating, ACEVO says, disparities in pay, pensions, and professional development opportunities.
The survey, which received 826 responses, also shows that boards are failing to invest in CEOs’ professional development and supervision.
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Commenting on the findings, Jane Ide, ACEVO’s Chief Executive said:
“To be frank, I am deeply disappointed and frustrated by much of what I read in this year’s report.
“We are seeing no progress on the representation of Black, Asian or minoritised ethnic leaders in our sector. The gender pay gap remains significant. Around half of our leaders do not have access to professional development, and a third are not given the courtesy of a clear, regular process for a review of their pay and conditions.
“Our sector has a problem: over the next decade and beyond we are likely to see increased competition for talent from other sectors as BCorps and mainstream businesses position themselves as great places to work for those who want to make a difference in the world – but with all the pay and benefits that come from working in the private sector.”
Salary findings
The median annual basic salary reported by sector leaders this Spring was £58,863 – up from £56,000 in the previous year. Nearly 75% of CEO respondents said they had received a salary increase within the past year, but considering the pace of inflation over the same period, median CEO salaries still fall behind market standards and short of equitable compensation with peers in other industries, ACEVO says.
A significant proportion (one third of respondents) reported a lack of regular formal salary reviews, with smaller charities being less likely to provide this benefit. The availability of professional development opportunities for CEOs remains at around 50%, similar to the previous year’s findings.
Just below half the sample (49%) were satisfied with the chair and board’s support for investing time and resources in CEO development compared with pre-pandemic levels which saw 60% satisfaction in 2017 and 53% in 2020. 59% of CEO respondents in 2023 feel that their wellbeing is prioritised by their board.
Equity findings
The survey shows year-on-year improvements in the proportion of leaders who report themselves to be disabled, have a learning difference, or health condition, reaching 25% of this year’s sample, up from 20% in 2022 and 17% in 2021. However, there is a “frustrating and worrying” lack of progress on race equity at most senior levels with the proportion of CEOs from Black, Asian, and Minoritised Ethnic backgrounds static at 7%, while the gender pay gap remains “substantial” at 8.3%.
83% of survey respondents however express a willingness to recommend the sector as a desirable place to work, with over 70% envisioning themselves remaining in the sector over the next five years.
Ide said:
“If our sector is going to be sustainable in the future we have to think hard about how we create pipelines of talent and skills, and then retain and develop those pipelines into a leadership that can navigate the challenges of the future with agility and intelligence.
“For the sake of our sector but above all for the people and causes we are all here to serve we have to address these issues. And most of them are entirely within our gift to address right now, if we choose to do so.”
David Saint, Chairman of Action Planning, sponsors of the report, added:
“ACEVO has provided us all with a superbly thorough set of figures that make intriguing reading. The data gives us the ‘what’ and provides a great foundation for exploring the ‘why?’. Each charity can then ask itself the ‘so what?’ – and decide what it is going to do about it.”
The full survey can be purchased from the ACEVO site.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.