Goodwill CEO salaries, ranked

How Goodwill is organized

Local Goodwills run the stores and job programs in their area under the Goodwill name. Each has its own board, sets its own CEO's pay and reports it on its own Form 990. Goodwill Industries International is the association they belong to; it supports its members and files a separate return.

Goodwill Industries International paid its CEO, Steven C Preston, $766,469 for the fiscal year ending December 2025. 5 of the 25 local Goodwills on this list paid their CEO more.

What counts as a Goodwill here

Every organization on this site whose filed name includes Goodwill, including those combined with Easterseals. A local Goodwill is listed when its latest full-year return reports at least $100 million in total revenue (Part I, line 12). Goodwill Industries International is listed whatever its revenue, because it is the national organization people often mean by Goodwill.

Each row is the return that reports the chief executive's pay, and the revenue shown is that return's own. Some Goodwills file more than one return, for example a separate one for their stores; a return that lists the same CEO as another is left out so one person's pay is not listed twice.

The ranking

The chief executive on each organization's latest full-year return, fiscal years ending December 2024 to January 2026. Each row is a different return, so each links to its own filing.

About the data

Every figure comes from a Form 990 e-file return the organization submitted to the IRS, which the IRS publishes as open data. Each row uses one return and links to it. We don't estimate, round or combine years; column F is the organization's own estimate of other compensation.

Which return

The most recent return that covers a full year. Short-year returns, filed when an organization changes its fiscal year, cover only a few months and are not used as the latest year. Where a return was amended, the amended version is used.

What “total” means

Part VII columns D, E and F added together: reportable pay from the organization, reportable pay from related organizations, and estimated other compensation. We add them up; each organization's page shows the three amounts separately.

Timing

Returns are due up to 10½ months after the fiscal year ends and appear in IRS data anywhere from about 4 to 18 months after the year ends, so the latest year here is often a year or more old.

Who counts as CEO

The person whose filed title names them chief executive (CEO, chief executive officer or executive director), or, where no one has one of those titles, a plain "President" or head of school. At a university it is the president or chancellor. If no one has any of these titles, we show the highest-paid person and say so. Totals and percentages labeled as calculated are our arithmetic on figures from one filing.

The full rules are on the methodology page. To report an error or ask for a review, email corrections@ceopaycheck.com.

Common questions