Compensation redesigns often stop at market competitiveness. We wanted Commit to be able to show their board something more: proof that the new structure was actually closing pay gaps, not just resetting the numbers.
The Commit Partnership needed a comprehensive, competitive, and equitable compensation strategy to attract and retain top talent. Its existing salary bands were wide and reflected historical pay decisions rather than a purposeful structure, with inconsistent placement for new hires and promotions.
Commit needed a comprehensive, competitive, and equitable compensation strategy, not just a set of updated numbers.
Existing salary bands were wide and reflected historical pay decisions rather than a purposeful structure, with inconsistent placement for new hires and promotions.
Leadership had no formal way to confirm whether current pay practices were creating disparities across roles, functions, or identity groups.
Benchmarked more than 64 data points across similarly sized nonprofit and for-profit organizations, blending direct competitor data with aggregated sector wage studies so no single source skewed the results.
Built a discrete micro salary band for Commit's Analytics team, which benchmarking showed was underpaid by a statistically significant margin, alongside narrower, more purposeful salary bands for every other function.
Designed a standardized wage matrix to guide salary placement on hire or promotion, along with differentiated merit raise and bonus structures tied to performance ratings, then modeled the financial and pay-equity impact of every recommendation before finalizing.
The Commit Partnership works to move the needle on education and workforce outcomes across Dallas County. The strength of that work depends on the team behind it, and a compensation structure that's both competitive and demonstrably equitable is what lets Commit attract and keep the people driving that impact.
Stronger Consulting partners with mission-driven organizations to turn complex challenges into clear, practical action, from strategy through implementation.
Back to all case studies