Do non-exempt employees get paid for the "optional" holiday party?

The very reason it starts one hour before quitting time is so that everyone who can attend the first hour, will. After that, you are free to go, and no-one will be upset if a non-exempt employee leaves at that time. They did this on purpose to avoid exactly the question you are asking.

If you are required to be there, you should be paid. If attendance is voluntary, not at all required, you do not have to be paid. The words of the invitation is what counts here, not what whatever you are inferring or perceiving as an "implicit expectation." Your options: (a) Go and have a good time, limit yourself to one drink or none at all, smile and score some brownie points. (b) Mention a previous engagement, so sorry, and take off. By the way, there under wage and hour laws there is no such thing as "comp time," and if the company is requiring you to accept comp time in a different pay period rather than paying you time and a half for any hours worked over 40 in an individual workweek, they are in violation of the law.

grouse couldn't have said it better. Just to add, whether board members are present or not, you should *always* be "on" at work events, even when it's a "party." And it's generally good office politics to go to these things. I wouldn't really consider them "work" time unless you specifically have duties like working the door or the bar or something. Even though many of them are awful, companies consider these events a a "perk." You're actually extremely lucky that it's partly during work hours and pretty short. Our holiday parties were always on a Saturday night.

It would be one thing if the employees were ordered to actively solicit donations, but I think "making minimal small talk and not getting embarrassingly shitfaced" does not fall under the definition of work. Regardless, the party seems perfectly timed for anyone who truly does not want to stay an extra hour to take care of their chit-chat duties during the first paid hour, then bounce at 6 pm.

Here's the deal. Showing up for the board and dressing nice and smiling real big is something you can do to improve or at least not hurt others' impressions of you. Not showing up will probably not get you fired. But it will not be helpful either. It will affect the judgements people make about you, because people judge other people based on intangibles like that. ESPECIALLY in the nonprofit world, where The Goodwill of Others is what makes the world go 'round. Come to think of it, insisting on getting paid/comped for going to the company Christmas party is a terrible idea on that exact basis.

Sounds like a really great free networking opportunity to me.

I work as an exempt employee, and I still blow off "optional" after-hours events like you describe. The bigwigs who will show up and expect you to kiss ass, well, they don't know you! So if they won't notice your absence, or remember your presence... Why bother?

So you go for one hour, paid. At 6 o'clock, you can either apologise that you had other arrangements this evening, or stick it out another half hour or so until you can leave more comfortably. I'd probably decide between the two options based on how flexible the company is in general (and leave things open to change my mind that evening). I'm a lot more willing to be generous for a company that doesn't time my hours to the exact second and is reasonable about doctor's appointments etc than for a company that is rigid.

Yeah, you go to the first hour, and bill your regular time for the day (i.e. you get to count it as working until 5 pm.) It's up to you if you want to stay, unpaid, for the second hour.