Focusing particularly on nonprofit agencies with a public service mission or that solicit donations from the public, we identified 20 organizations that listed a lower revenue in 2023 than 2021 and higher pay for their top-paid employee. We reached out to every one of those agencies to ask them for an explanation.
DAYTON DAILY NEWS INVESTIGATES
Executive compensation at area nonprofits
Federal law requires transparency of nonprofits in exchange for getting tax breaks, donations from the public and often considerable government funding. For many, that includes listing on publicly accessible tax forms how much they pay their top executives.
A monthslong investigation by the Dayton Daily News looked into how area nonprofits compensate their top-paid executives as they face revenue challenges and financial headwinds.
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- » How and why we investigated area nonprofit CEO pay
Only about half of them responded to our questions. Of those, most said pay raises were necessary to keep executive compensation competitive as they forged their future.
We are sharing our findings, including an online listing of executive compensation at 100 of the area’s largest nonprofits. The Dayton Daily News is committed to accountability reporting on agencies that hold the public’s trust.
In several cases, the raw IRS data did not tell the complete picture.
Community First Solutions is a Butler County-based nonprofit network that provides health and wellness services including senior living communities, rehabilitation centers, mental health and addiction facilities, home meal delivery, recreation facilities and a not-for-profit pharmacy.
Its revenues dropped nearly 16.7% from 2021 to $11.1 million in 2023. The highest paid person each year was president and CEO Brett Kirkpatrick with an annual salary raising 6.2% to $409,451.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
But Danielle Webb, vice president of sales and marketing for Community First Solutions, said the nonprofit network includes five separate employer identification numbers throughout its operations.
Consolidated revenues rose from $48.6 million in 2021 to $56.7 million in 2023.
Webb said revenues for 2024 are $57.9 million and will be in the $70 million range when the audit is released in October. Community First Solutions is budgeting $77 million in revenue for 2026.
Kirkpatrick’s compensation climbed again more than $100,000 in 2024 to $525,585, according to their most recent filing in April 2025.
In 2024, the organization moved to No. 122 in the Ziegler top 200 for total managed/own units, up from 193 in 2021. Webb said Community First Solutions expects to move up again in 2025 after the acquisition of an assisted living and memory care community in Beavercreek last summer.
Community foundations
Likewise, revenues can fluctuate wildly at community foundations.
The Troy Foundation had annual revenues of $14.6 million in 2021, $11.7 million in 2022 and nearly $12 million in 2023.
Melissa Kleptz, the foundation’s president and CEO and its highest paid employee, said the revenue figures in 2021 were impacted by a large stock gift that was accounted for that year as income and then doled out in the following years.
The Troy Foundation is a community foundation that maintains and facilitates grant donations from donors to more than 500 funds supporting Miami County.
In 2021, the foundation received nearly $9.9 million in donations including the stocks, according to its financial statements. That year, it gave out $7 million in grants.
In 2023, donations were $8.1 million and $9.1 million was given out in grants.
Kleptz’s salary rose 6.1% to $126,856 in 2023.
The Dayton Foundation has not yet filed its 2023 tax forms, so wasn’t included in our analysis. Its 2022 form, filed in May 2024, shows a revenue drop from 2021.
Dayton Foundation President Michael Parks’ base pay in 2022 was $476,427. He received a bonus of $176,000 and other reportable compensation of $101,194.
“Our compensation philosophy is to offer fair, market-based pay aligned with similar roles at comparable organizations,” said David Miller, immediate past chair of the Dayton Foundation’s governing board.
The foundation utilizes a compensation committee and a compensation consultant to establish salary ranges for the organization’s president and other staff, he said.
The Dayton Foundation distributes an average of $84.9 million in grants each year over the last five years, which is an increase of 75.8% over the previous five-year average, according to the foundation.
“Our purpose or reason for being is to generate permanent legacies that will be here forever,” said Parks.
