Live preview — download the board-ready PDF to attach to your minutes.Download the free PDF
Email yourself a copy:
PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Cleveland Arts Prize

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 010627754
OH · NTEE A60
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Eftihia Tsengas, Executive Director / CEO ($43,896) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 147 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 46th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Eftihia Tsengas — reported title “EXECUTIVE DI”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

147 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 147 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$1 total compensation of comparable organizations → $120,109 $43,896
$12,50610th
$24,53825th
$45,438Median
$59,69375th
$80,37090th
$43,896This org · 46th
p10$12,506
p25$24,538
p50$45,438
p75$59,693
p90$80,370
$43,896

Comparable organizations

Each figure is Form 990 Part VII columns D + F (reportable pay plus other compensation and benefits; column F may include amounts from related organizations), normalized to OH cost of living (BEA RPP, 2023) and to its filing year (CPI-U); the reported amount is on each linked 990.

OrganizationStateRevenueMatched titleComp
(reported)
Comp
(adjusted)
FY
Impact Arts Inc TX$350,870 Chief Operating Officer $17,500 $17,016 2023
Little Globe Inc NM$348,773 Co-director $50,250 $52,535 2023
Arcadia Performing Arts Inc PA$348,016 Executive Director $39,800 $37,473 2024
Aloha Performing Arts Company HI$347,681 Past Preside $77,666 $67,590 2023
Sc New Play Festival Inc SC$354,165 Executive Artistic Director $30,000 $28,788 2025
Shakespeare At A Nj Nonprofit Corporatio NJ$355,121 Artistic Director $18,958 $15,981 2024
The Stars Of Tomorrow Project Inc NY$344,741 Director $69,000 $58,868 2024
Studio 1 NC$356,006 Executive Dir. $60,100 $58,631 2024
Chelsea Music Festival Corporation NY$344,365 Director $10,000 $8,532 2024
Amazing Things Arts Center Inc MA$357,744 Executive Director $67,234 $57,043 2024
Holy City Arts & Lyric Opera SC$357,749 General Dire $34,490 $33,972 2024
Newport Opera House Association NH$340,825 Executive Director $53,500 $46,641 2024
Blue Water Theatre Company MN$340,562 Managing Director $55,000 $51,311 2024
Alive & Kickin MN$360,111 Executive Director $64,500 $61,951 2023
Authentic Community Theatre Inc MD$339,283 President $33,950 $30,853 2023
Strike Anywhere Inc NY$362,504 Artistic Dir. $52,498 $44,789 2024
American Theater Group NJ$362,732 Artistic Dir $60,000 $50,579 2024
Ladies Of Hip-hop Festival NJ$363,054 Executive Director $13,700 $11,890 2023
Ztp MN$337,220 Executive Artistic Director $62,150 $59,694 2023
Lovegood Performing Arts Company OR$363,379 President $12,160 $10,977 2023
Forces Of Nature Inc NY$336,324 President $24,400 $20,280 2025
7th Street Theatre Association WA$335,673 Prior Manager $18,601 $16,188 2023
Thomasville Entertainment GA$365,778 Executive Dir. $35,700 $33,018 2025
Danceast Collective TN$334,000 Executive Director $1 $1 2025
Sunfest Of Palm Beach County Inc FL$368,350 Executive Director $117,990 $101,955 2025

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to OH cost of living and 2024 dollars. Click any organization to verify the figure on ProPublica.

Methodology

Comparable organizations were drawn from electronically filed IRS Form 990 returns and matched on sector (NTEE code), budget (a size-adaptive revenue band that tightens as the organization grows), and geography (same-state first, broadening only when too few peers qualify); every organization within the band forms the peer set. To compare fairly across regions and years, peer compensation is normalized to OH cost of living (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2023) and to the subject's filing year (CPI-U). The figure benchmarked is Form 990 Part VII, Section A, columns D + F — reportable pay plus other compensation, benefits, and deferred amounts (column F may include amounts from related organizations) — with the chief executive matched by role. Related-organization amounts (column E) and institutional trustees are excluded. Full methodology: peerbasis.org/methodology.

Sample, role match & sensitivity

Sensitivity — the subject's percentile under alternative compensation definitions:

BasisSubject percentile
Total compensation (D + F), cost-of-living + inflation adjusted — the PeerBasis default46th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)45th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted47th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted45th

If the percentile moves materially across these definitions, the result is sensitive to methodology choices, and the board should weigh which basis best fits its facts.

Rebuttable presumption of reasonableness · 26 CFR 53.4958-6

Compensation paid by a tax-exempt organization is presumed reasonable — shifting the burden to the IRS — when three requirements are met. This report supplies the comparability data for the second. The board should record the following in its minutes concurrently with its decision:

Draft board minutes — executive compensation

  1. The compensation of the Executive Director / CEO (Eftihia Tsengas) was approved in advance by [the Board / Compensation Committee], composed of members with no conflict of interest with respect to the arrangement.
  2. Prior to its determination, the authorized body obtained and relied upon appropriate comparability data, namely the PeerBasis Compensation Comparability Determination dated June 9, 2026, comparing compensation against 147 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A60), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $43,896 is reasonable (approximately the 46th percentile of comparable organizations) and documented the basis for this determination concurrently, on [date], by a vote of [__ for / __ against].

Sources: IRS Form 990 e-file data (apps.irs.gov); IRS Business Master File (NTEE classification). Every figure traces to an original public filing — click any organization above to verify it on ProPublica. PeerBasis is a service of Prismind Analytics; its methodology is published, was commissioned for independent adversarial review, and discloses its own limitations. This report is comparability data to support a board's good-faith determination under IRC 4958; it is not legal or tax advice. Generated by PeerBasis on June 9, 2026.