To support adjustments for reasonable compensation when doing private-company valuations, comparable data are necessary. One source for private-company board member compensation is the “Private Company Board Compensation and Governance Survey,” conducted by Compensation Advisory Partners (CAP) and Family Business and Private Company Director magazines. The new 2022 third edition of the survey contains over 1,200 responses, an increase of about 300 participants from the prior full version of the survey in 2020.

Board retainers are highly correlated with company size, the survey says, ranging from a median of $20,000 at firms with less than $10 million in revenue to $65,000 at firms with greater than $1 billion in revenue. In addition to retainers, other elements of cash compensation for private-company directors are annual travel reimbursements and in-person meeting fees, provided by about half of the respondents.

A summary of the survey is available if you click here. Full results are available only to survey participants.