Wittenberg files with the IRS on a fiscal calendar. Its most recent filings for Fiscal Year 2024 (filed in May 2025) shows his salary grew again to $383,495, another 5% increase while the university’s revenues eked up 3.3%. His total compensation that year, including deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits, was $555,874.
Wittenberg did not respond to requests for comment for this story, but the school’s financial challenges are well documented. The university recorded a $17 million deficit in the 2022-23 school year. Enrollment is down and the institution’s ability to continue functioning is uncertain.
The university this year was placed in a “financial distress” designation by the Higher Learning Commission despite cuts to programs, faculty and staff.
“We’ve had to make really, really difficult decisions; sometimes really, really unpopular decisions,” Frandsen said in an exit interview with the Springfield News-Sun before his retirement in June.
Wilberforce
Out of the top 20 nonprofits included in the Dayton Daily News analysis, Wilberforce University in Greene County saw the largest drop in revenue (69%) from 2021 to 2023.
DAYTON DAILY NEWS INVESTIGATES
Executive compensation at area nonprofits
Federal law requires transparency of nonprofits in exchange for getting tax breaks, donations from the public and often considerable government funding. For many, that includes listing on publicly accessible tax forms how much they pay their top executives.
A monthslong investigation by the Dayton Daily News looked into how area nonprofits compensate their top-paid executives as they face revenue challenges and financial headwinds.
- » Nonprofits facing revenue losses say executive pay raises necessary
- » From Wittenberg to Wilberforce to welding institute, area private school leaders’ pay rose as revenues declined
- » CareSource CEO paid $12M as nonprofit revenue dropped $1B
- » Government funding cuts put most Ohio nonprofits at risk
- » Search: How much area’s largest nonprofits pay their top-paid employees
- » How and why we investigated area nonprofit CEO pay
This was a drop from $40.7 million in reported total revenue — inflated from previous years due to more than $22 million in debt forgiveness that the university reported as miscellaneous revenue — to $12.2 million. But not including debt forgiveness, the reported revenue for 2021 would have been closer to $15.9 million, resulting in a 23% revenue decline through 2023.
The college’s highest-paid employee during that time, former Wilberforce President Elfred Anthony Pinkard, saw a salary increase of 22.8%. His salary was reported by the university in 2023 tax documents as $245,000, and he retired in 2023.
Credit: Bryon Black
Credit: Bryon Black
Wilberforce officials said Pinkard’s salary increase was approved by the college’s board “based on the circumstances and priorities at that time,” but declined to comment further on the previous president’s salary.
A university spokesperson said the pandemic was particularly challenging for historically Black colleges and universities across the U.S., with Wilberforce reporting fluctuating enrollment and a decrease in donor engagement during the pandemic years.
The university had 415 students enrolled in 2020, but that fell to 389 students in 2021. This year, fall enrollment was reported by the university as more than 600 students.
Wilberforce last year was lifted from a watch list by the Higher Learning Commission, an accreditor for many Ohio universities, for being at risk for shifting out of compliance for issues related to faculty and staff; student enrollment and retention; budgeting and fundraising and more. The university was also on probation with the Higher Learning Commission from 2018 to 2021 for financial and institutional problems.
Hobart Institute
One of the largest pay raises for an organization whose revenue declined from 2021 to 2023 went to Scott Mazzulla, former president of the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology. Mazzulla earned nearly 78% more in 2023 than he did in 2021, while the institute reported a roughly 3.5% decrease in revenue during that same time period.
The institute did not respond to requests for comment. The welding school is located in Troy and reported total revenue of $10.7 million in 2023. Mazzulla’s salary that same year, before he departed in October, was reported as $349,069, including a $100,138 bonus.
Miami Valley School
Education Resources Inc. is the business name for the Miami Valley School, an independent college preparatory school for grades pre-K through 12 located in Dayton.
Revenues for 2021 to 2023 were $10.8 million, $9.7 million and $10 million.
Head of School Elizabeth Cleary was the organization’s highest paid employee each of those years with an annual salary rising from $213,182 to $233,416 — a 9.5% increase.
David Long took over as head of school in July 2023.
He said he couldn’t speak specifically about salary and revenue before his arrival but attributed the overall revenue decline to an increase in expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There were a lot of expenses no one budgeted for,” Long said, citing face shields as an example. “Everyone was trying to keep the doors open.”
