If your local paper goes out of business, you may want to consider joining the ranks of the unemployed.
According to a study published in the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, when a local newspaper closes, total executive compensation for local nonprofits increases by more than $38,000 on averagea 32% increase.
"Donors and volunteers expect their contributions to go to the execution of the nonprofits' mission, rather than leadership salaries, so unreasonably high compensation represents a serious problem for these organizations," says study co-author Joshua Khavis of the University at Buffalo School of Management in a press release.
Researchers looked at IRS data on nonprofits from 2008 to 2017 and newspaper closure data from the University of North Carolina's Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media.
They found that executive compensation increases the same year a newspaper closes, and that persists over the next three years.
They also found a decline in residual cash and donations, but didn't find any changes in program spending or long-term investments.
"We found declines in both endowments and donor contributions at nonprofits after a local paper closes," Khavis says.
"This suggests that the executives' pay increases are funded by spending down endowments, and that donors react to the loss of external monitoring by withholding their donations
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