Matthew J. Beem, PhD, CFRE
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Matt Beem chairs the advisory board of the Hartsook Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy at Plymouth University in Plymouth, United Kingdom and is a senior fellow of the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s (UMKC) Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership. He served on the board of trustees of Avila University in Kansas City from 2015-2017 and on the board of trustees of Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa from 2008-2014.
Matt is a featured speaker on fundraising and fundraiser compensation in the United States and abroad. He is the author of Performance-Driven Fundraising: Taking Control of Your Success and a co-author of $231 Billion Raised and Counting with Bob Hartsook and Karin Cox.
Matt holds a bachelor of journalism in news editorial from the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia and a master of public administration in nonprofit management and doctor of philosophy in organizational behavior and higher education administration from UMKC’s Bloch School of Management and School of Education.
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Hartsook President and CEO Matthew J. Beem Earns Ph.D.
Beem family: Joe, Matt, Kate,
Tom (not pictured, Maggie)
(Kansas City) Matt Beem recently earned a doctor of philosophy in organizational behavior and higher education administration from the University of Missouri – Kansas City. He defended his dissertation, Performance-Based Fundraiser Compensation: An Analysis of Preference, Prevalence and Effect, in December 2018.
Beem examined the preference for and prevalence of performance-based compensation and the relationship between it and productivity within the sample population of professional fundraisers. He reviewed the history of fundraiser compensation and prevalence of incentive pay in the nonprofit sector and among professional fundraisers, including its correlation to performance.
The Fundraiser Compensation Survey, an original study, was emailed by the Mid-America Chapter of Fundraising Professionals to more than 3,000 individuals. Findings revealed respondents’ dissatisfaction with the relationship between goal attainment, performance and compensation in their jobs. The study also found significant compensation differences based on respondents’ gender and ethnicity – findings different from research discussed in the literature review.
Beem’s dissertation adds important knowledge about the prevalence of and desire for performance-based compensation within the sample population. It also sheds light on the effect performance-based compensation has on the amount of money fundraisers raise.
Hartsook continues to be available to support nonprofit organizations in compensation plan design for its fundraisers, executive directors, CEOs and other senior leaders.