Anecdotally, most non profits I’ve encountered operate in this way. Someone who is already wealthy, runs the show and pays themselves an egregious salary. They then hire lots of idealistic folks who either have money already or are ok being exploited due to idealistic bias.
No one who “works” for the non profit gets paid reasonably except the executives, who are paid exorbitant wages.
Wikimedia (the parent of Wikipedia) pays most people at Wikimedia very generously. The issue is most people involved, outside of tech, contribute little or nothing to Wikipedia which is the reason people are donating.
No one who “works” for the non profit gets paid reasonably except the executives, who are paid exorbitant wages.