A new salary and benefits survey of Kansas City nonprofits presents a mixed picture against a backdrop of a generally improving economy, the Kansas City Star reports.

According to the 2004 Salary & Benefits Survey of Greater Kansas City Area Nonprofit Organizations, 38 percent of Kansas City area nonprofits eliminated a full- or part-time position in 2004 because of budget constraints, restructuring, or grants coming to an end, while some 37 percent awarded no salary increases at all. At the same time, nearly half of the organizations surveyed added a full- or part-time staff member, while 20 percent of respondents were able to improve pay across the board.

Palle Rilinger, executive director of the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault, said her agency fit in both groups at some point during the year — a period, as she called it, of "reconfiguring and significant reassessment." Because of the survey, however, "we made some key adjustments to keep and attract key people," she added.

One notable finding in the report was the increase in the percentage of men on nonprofit staffs, which rose from 26 percent in 2002 to 29 percent in 2004. In addition, the survey found that women executive directors and presidents continued to earn less than their male counterparts, averaging 69 cents for every $1 earned by men.

The biannual survey, which was sent to 1,984 area nonprofits and completed by 253, was developed by the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the Executive Service Corps, the area chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Community Association of Nonprofit Business Executives, and the Council on Philanthropy.