Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Make a Passover gift and support Jewish journalism. DONATE NOW
News

Salary Survey 2017: David Harris Of The American Jewish Committee

American Jewish Committee

Location: New York, NY

Category: Advocacy or Public Service

David Harris

Executive Director

The American Jewish Committee is one of the oldest and most influential Jewish advocacy organizations. Founded in 1906 by American Jews concerned by the pogroms aimed at Russian Jews, the group’s current mission is “to enhance the wellbeing of the Jewish people and Israel, and to advance human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world,” through combating anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry worldwide, advocating for peace and security for Israel, and supporting energy independence. The organization has 22 offices across the United States and nine overseas.

Organization Website | Guidestar Page

David Harris has served as executive director of the American Jewish Committee since 1990. He regularly meets with high profile political officials and was significantly involved in the emigration of over a million Jews from the Soviet Union and in the rescue of Ethiopian Jews in the 1980s. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

2016

Institution Revenue: $69,829,496

Institution Total Expenses: $52,248,576

Employees: 313

Salary: $539,016

2014

Institution Revenue: $54,782,673

Institution Total Expenses: $46,209,859

Employees: 288

Salary: $491,766

Overpaid by: 16%

For information on previous years, see here.

For information on other Jewish nonprofits, see here.

For information on other Jewish advocacy and public service leaders, see here.

1 Interim head of organization

2 Data from 2012

3 Data from 2011

4 Data from 2010

5 Data from 2009

6 Data from 2008

7 Data from 2007

8 Includes payment from SWC Museum Corp.

9 Predecessor’s salary

10 Partial year

11 Not a 501(c)3

12 Annualized

13 Position currently vacant

14 As per Form 990, JNF declined to comment

15 Base salary

16 Data from president-elect period

17 2010 Employees

18 Legally exempt from public disclosure of salary

19 Highest paid professional, not CEO

20 Paid from two related organizations

21 Data from 2013

22 Data from 2014

23 Data from 2015

24 Includes a one-time honorarium of $55,000

25 Data from 2017

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.