You can always check Charity Navigator for info on a charitable organization. If 80% of their $ go to the programs they run, then it is usually a great charity.

Having been involved with charitable orgs. for 25 years, I can tell you the lager ones do pay staff, much like corporations do. They HAVE to! They need skilled folks to manage a national / international business. So, just knowing what the CEO makes is NOT telling you a thing.

The large ones (like American Red Cross) truly are huge corporations, with overhead, legal issues, tax information reports, state and federal reports, and all sorts of infrastructure necessary to run such a large business. And make no mistake, a charity IS a business! It is a not for profit business, but it IS a business. Staff does work at it full time, and to have qualified folks running such a thing, you need to be competitive in your salaries.