Your Executives Built the Mission.
Who’s Building Their Retirement?
Most nonprofit leaders are underinsured, overtaxed, and one board transition away from losing their benefits. We design executive compensation strategies that protect the people who protect your mission.
Nonprofit Executives Face a Retirement Crisis Most Boards Don’t See.
Corporate executives get stock options, deferred comp, and golden parachutes. Nonprofit leaders get a modest 403(b) match and a thank-you dinner. The gap between what they’ve earned and what they’ll retire with is often six or seven figures.
The good news: the tax code provides tools specifically designed to close that gap. Most organizations just don’t know they exist.
Retention Risk
Your best leaders are one recruiter call away from a corporate package that triples their deferred compensation. A strong exec benefits plan makes leaving expensive.
Tax Exposure
Without proper planning, nonprofit executives overpay on taxes year after year — often $30,000 to $60,000 annually — using strategies that expired a decade ago.
Board Liability
Poorly structured deferred comp plans create 409A compliance risk. One audit finding can trigger penalties of 20% plus interest on every dollar deferred.
Benefits Portability
Most nonprofit executive benefits evaporate on departure. A well-designed plan can vest over time and travel with the executive — or stay with the organization if they leave early.
Six Executive Benefit Strategies
Most Generalist Advisors Miss.
Each one is built around tax-efficient life insurance — the one asset class that provides tax-deferred growth, tax-free access, and a death benefit that funds the plan’s promises.
457(b) Plans
Tax-deferred supplemental retirement savings for executives at tax-exempt organizations. No early withdrawal penalty. No coordination with 403(b) limits — your executives can defer into both.
457(f) / Ineligible Plans
Promise future compensation tied to continued service. Unlike 457(b), there are no contribution limits — the board can set whatever amount matches the executive’s value to the mission.
SERPs & 409A Plans
Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans that mirror what corporate America offers. Structured properly under Section 409A to avoid the compliance landmines that catch most nonprofits off guard.
Split-Dollar Arrangements
The organization and the executive share ownership of a life insurance policy. The org recovers its premiums; the executive’s family keeps the rest. A retention tool that costs the nonprofit nothing long-term.
Section 162 Bonus Plans
The simplest path. The nonprofit pays the premium on a policy the executive owns outright. It’s a tax-deductible bonus to the organization and a permanent benefit to the executive.
Retention & Recruitment Packages
Combine two or more of the above into a single compensation package that makes your offer competitive with corporate. Structured to vest over 3–7 years so the executive stays.
From First Conversation
to Funded Plan.
Most engagements move from discovery to implementation in 60–90 days.
Discovery
We review current compensation, tax exposure, and the organization’s goals for retention and recruitment.
Design
We model 2–3 strategies, comparing tax impact, vesting, portability, and cost to the organization.
Board Approval
We prepare the board presentation, plan documents, and compliance review with your legal counsel.
Implementation
Policy placement, beneficiary setup, and annual review cadence — plus ongoing 409A monitoring.
Built for Nonprofit Leaders and
the Professionals Who Advise Them.
Whether you’re an executive, a board chair, or the financial advisor at the table — this is designed for your situation.
Nonprofit CEOs & Executive Directors
You’ve spent decades serving the mission. Your retirement shouldn’t depend on a 403(b) alone.
Board Chairs & Compensation Committees
Retaining your CEO is cheaper than replacing them. The right benefits package makes leaving expensive.
CFP® Financial Planners
Your nonprofit clients have needs most planning software doesn’t model. We fill the gap as a specialist partner — not a competitor.
HR Directors & CFOs
You know the retention problem is real. You need a plan that’s compliant, fundable, and explainable to the board in 15 minutes.
Find Out What Your Executives
Are Leaving on the Table.
A 30-minute discovery call is enough to identify whether your current compensation structure has gaps — and what it would take to close them.