Where the middle 50% lands.
Half earn between $60k and $297k. That band is the interquartile range. The 90th percentile sits at $558k, roughly 3.7 times the median. That upper tail is where the largest organizations cluster.
| Percentile | Total comp | Means |
|---|---|---|
| 90th | $558,276 | Top 10% of earners |
| 75th | $296,610 | 25% earn more than this |
| 50th · median | $150,224 | The typical executive |
| 25th | $59,710 | 25% earn less than this |
| 10th | $23,458 | 10% of executives earn less than this |
How the package is built.
The typical pay structure across 369 organizations with full Schedule J reporting (49% of the 747 orgs in this slice). Each share is the average across orgs of the fraction of total comp that goes to this component, so the bar fills 100%.
The number in context.
Every row links to its own dedicated benchmark page.
All figures are median total reported compensation · IRS Form 990, Schedule J
Pay varies by state.
District of Columbia pays $166,014 more than the median Executive Director compensation in science & technology nationally.
The ten highest-paid science & technology Executive Directors by filing.
| # | Organization | Location | Total compensation | Filing year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Battelle Memorial Institute | Columbus, OH | $5,610,756 | 2023 |
| 02 | The Mitre Corporation | Mclean, VA | $3,151,714 | 2023 |
| 03 | Analysis And Resilience Center For Systemic Risk Inc | Arlington, VA | $2,986,523 | 2024 |
| 04 | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution | Woods Hole, MA | $2,308,822 | 2023 |
| 05 | The Aerospace Corporation | Chantilly, VA | $2,260,742 | 2023 |
| 06 | The Allen Institute For Artificial Intelligence | Seattle, WA | $2,082,841 | 2024 |
| 07 | Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc | Cambridge, MA | $1,765,104 | 2023 |
| 08 | Southwest Research Institute | San Antonio, TX | $1,718,720 | 2023 |
| 09 | Institute Of Gas Technology | Des Plaines, IL | $1,646,990 | 2023 |
| 10 | Prepass Safety Alliance | Phoenix, AZ | $1,534,487 | 2023 |
Total includes base, bonus, other reportable, and deferred/retirement compensation per Schedule J.
What does a $X org pay?
Adjust the slider to your organization's revenue. The median Executive Director compensation for science & technology nonprofits in that revenue band updates live.
{sector} {role} pay, answered
- How much does a Science & Technology nonprofit Executive Director make?
- The median total compensation for a Executive Director at a science & technology nonprofit is $150,224, based on 747 organizations in IRS Form 990 filings. The middle 50% fall between $59,710 and $296,610.
- What is the salary range for a Executive Director in Science & Technology nonprofits?
- Pay ranges from $59,710 at the 25th percentile to $296,610 at the 75th and $558,276 at the 90th. The spread reflects differences in organization size, budget, and region within the sector.
- Is this Science & Technology compensation data reliable?
- Yes. It comes from IRS Form 990 filings, legal documents filed under penalty of perjury, not self-reported surveys. Figures cover 747 science & technology nonprofits reporting a Executive Director.
- Why does Science & Technology nonprofit Executive Director pay differ from other sectors?
- Compensation reflects the typical organization size, revenue, and operating complexity of each sector. Larger, better-funded science & technology organizations pull the upper percentiles higher, while smaller ones anchor the lower end.