Simple, black and white mental models of the world may lead a person to draw shockingly wrong conclusions about the world. The pay in non-profit absolutely sucks. It sucks for a number of reasons, not some simple econ 101 reason. It sucks because there just isn't much revenue in asking people for donations. It sucks because all the leaders making pay decision are making sacrifices and feel like everyone else should be as well. It sucks because there are always more young, idealistic people to replace the burned out, cynical ones. It sucks because most of the work is low skilled. It sucks because non-profits are somewhat divorced from competitive pressures and are not forced to pay for absolutely the most talented people. It sucks because the kind of people who take these jobs are happy to take pay cuts.