Board compensation benchmarks

Verified public figures

• Spencer Stuart U.S. Board Index 2025 — average total non-employee director compensation (S&P 500, excl. independent-chair fees)

  $336,352 average total (up 3% YoY); mix ≈59% stock awards, ≈36% cash

  Proxy year analysis of S&P 500 boards. Independent chair average additional compensation ≈$172,867; lead/presiding director ≈$51,011.

  Source (2025)

• Spencer Stuart U.S. Board Index 2025 — median annual cash retainer (S&P 500)

  $110,000 median annual retainer (cash, not including equity beyond retainer); average retainer $146,605

  Only 2% of S&P 500 boards still pay a board meeting fee. Source PDF table: Non-employee director compensation.

  Source (2025)

• Compensation Advisory Partners / Private Company Director 2025 survey — private company median cash retainer

  $38,800 median annual cash retainer (77% of respondents pay a retainer); $2,500 median per-meeting fee where used; 37% offer long-term incentives (median award value $50,000)

  633 certified respondents (April 2025). 90% provide some form of director compensation. Average pay to one director $50,000 (median of reporting companies' averages).

  Source (2025)

• CAP / Private Company Director 2024 survey — prior-year private company median cash retainer

  $32,000 median cash retainer (2024)

  Cited for year-over-year context with the 2025 CAP summary.

  Source (2024)

• BoardSource — nonprofit board member compensation guidance

  Most U.S. nonprofits use volunteer (unpaid) board members; compensation is legally permissible under conditions but uncommon

  BoardSource does not publish a free public percentage in this resource. We do not invent one. When nonprofits do pay, IRS Form 990 Part VII disclosure and 'reasonable compensation' rules apply.

  Source (2025)

• IRS Form 990 instructions — Part VII compensation of officers, directors, trustees

  Exempt organizations must report compensation of current and former directors/trustees on Form 990 Part VII when thresholds apply; volunteer/unpaid service is generally not reportable as compensation

  Educational pointer only — not tax advice. Prepared does not file Form 990.

  Source (2025)

• SEC proxy statement director compensation tables (Item 402)

  Public companies disclose non-employee director compensation in annual proxy statements (DEF 14A)

  Spencer Stuart and NACD/Pearl Meyer aggregates are built from these filings. Individual company figures belong in that company's proxy — we do not invent them.

  Source (2025)

• NACD / Pearl Meyer 2025–2026 Director Compensation Report

  Covers ~1,400 public companies across 24 industries (member / paid summary)

  Full statistics are behind NACD membership or Pearl Meyer purchase. We cite the existence and scope of the report, not unpaid member-only numbers we cannot verify.

  Source (2025)

Methodology

• Only figures with a year and a public URL we fetched or opened are published as numbers.
• Member-only or paywalled statistics are named (scope + year) but not quoted as unpaid figures.
• Most nonprofit directors are unpaid volunteers (BoardSource). We do not invent a percentage.
• Startup / early venture board pay is highly variable (often equity-heavy); we describe practices without inventing a median we cannot cite from a primary survey page.
• In-app peer aggregates (boards that opt in) reuse the same cohort threshold as process peer benchmarks: nothing numeric until at least 10 non-demo opted-in boards in the cohort.
• Prepared never ranks people, never invents recruiter or candidate pay, and never claims these figures are legal advice or a compensation opinion.

Opt-in peer aggregates (2026)

Boards that opt in can report retainer / meeting fees / equity notes by board type and size. Aggregates show nothing numeric until at least 10 non-demo boards are in the cohort (same threshold as process peer benchmarks). Demo boards never count.

Cohort: All board types · All sizes · 2026

Not enough opted-in boards yet (need N≥10 non-demo boards per cohort). (currently 0)