October 17, 2024
A new compensation survey released by the Institute for Nonprofit News shows a slight increase in the average base reporter’s salary for a nonprofit news outlet – $86,703, up from $82,943 in 2022.
The survey highlights salary and benefits information pooled from 149 nonprofit news outlets, including salaries for 21 job titles and information on paid time off, insurance options, parental leave and work from home flexibility. Salary information is broken down by geographic scope, operating budget tiers and staff size tiers, giving nonprofit news outlets even more accurate benchmarks.
The survey sample reflects a stabilizing industry, too – on average, nonprofit news outlets reported slightly more employees and larger operating budgets than they did in 2022 and in 2020, the years of previous surveys. The steady growth in staff size and revenue reinforce findings released earlier this year in INN’s fieldwide Index.
“INN’s Compensation Survey is usually the first place many of our members look to see whether they’re roughly on track with pay and benefits,” said Jonathan Kealing, INN’s chief network officer. “Our hope is that the industry will expand access to much-needed benefits in the coming years – that’s a critical step to guarantee this sector’s sustainability.”
Indeed, despite small increases in salaries and overall financial stability, nonprofit news organizations have not reported expanding benefits. Access to medical insurance declined, with only 66% of outlets offering medical insurance coverage, down from 72% of outlets in 2022. The number of respondents who reported offering a retirement plan is relatively unchanged from 2022 – about 60% – preserving progress made since 2020 when only 54% of respondents said they offered a retirement plan. The lack of progress on benefits could reflect the number of new startups in the survey sample, Kealing said, but also highlights an area for improvement for the industry.
Study highlights
About the study
The 2024 INN Member Compensation Study is available for download at a sliding pricing scale; INN members who completed the survey can access the report for free.
A third of the INN Network’s 450 news publishers, 149 outlets, took the survey on which the compensation study is based. These included 61 local news organizations, 40 covering a state or region and 37 with a national or global focus.
The survey includes 10 compensation and benefits elements such as annual base salary, work from home policies, parental leave and retirement plans.
The study is also based on data collected and reported for the following 21 jobs:
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