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

Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 111761496
NY · NTEE A540
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Richard Doctorow, Executive Director / CEO ($4,000) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 65 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 3rd percentile of comparable organizationsbelow the typical range for comparable organizations

Benchmarked executive: Richard Doctorow — reported title “BOARD MEMBER”, selected as the organization's highest-paid individual — no exact title match, so confirm this is a comparable role.

How comparable organizations were selected

65 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 65 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$1,500 total compensation of comparable organizations → $131,045 $4,000
$16,86210th
$30,57825th
$46,420Median
$61,07975th
$72,27090th
$4,000This org · 3rd
p10$16,862
p25$30,578
p50$46,420
p75$61,079
p90$72,270
$4,000

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 NY 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
Shoreline Historical Museum WA$167,149 Executive Di $55,538 $55,027 2024
Harrington House Foundation TX$167,951 Manager $50,000 $56,985 2023
Museum Of Ceramics Foundation OH$159,251 Key Employee $21,325 $24,995 2024
Milan Historical Museum Inc OH$158,097 Executive Drector $71,428 $83,722 2024
South Carolina Cotton Museum Inc SC$155,011 Executive Di $33,692 $40,046 2023
Warbirds Of Glory Museum MI$154,634 President $50,058 $58,868 2023
Haverhill Historical Society MA$152,088 Director And Curator $34,356 $33,284 2025
Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum Inc MS$151,523 Sec Treas And Executive Director $57,200 $72,584 2023
Center For Documentary Expression UT$151,368 Executive Di $54,000 $62,969 2023
Everett Museum Of History WA$179,646 Executive Director $37,090 $36,748 2024
The Charnley-persky House Museum IL$149,312 Executive Director - Term $6,193 $6,937 2023
Northwest Carriage Museum WA$179,961 Sec / Director $43,036 $42,640 2024
Bush Family Home Foundation TX$180,724 Executive Director $67,500 $80,083 2022
The Museum Of North Texas History TX$148,127 Executive Director $27,692 $30,655 2024
Millville Army Air Field Museum Inc NJ$185,125 Executive Director $51,124 $52,006 2023
Museum Assn Of The American Frontier NE$185,679 Executive Director $39,000 $46,420 2024
Dayton International Peace Museum OH$186,358 Executive Di $66,650 $80,429 2023
Sanford-springvale Historical Society ME$142,583 Executive Director $29,175 $31,497 2025
Heritage Museum Of Montgomery County TX$142,402 Executive Director $20,946 $23,187 2024
St Charles History Museum IL$187,467 Executive Dir. $58,000 $63,102 2024
Scottsboro-jackson Heritage Center AL$141,493 Director $20,196 $24,145 2024
The William E Swigart Jr Automobile Museum PA$140,026 Treasurer $9,855 $10,876 2024
Old Independence Regional Museum AR$189,731 Museum Director $36,040 $44,831 2024
Spnea Connecticut Inc MA$191,365 President $85,871 $85,395 2024
The Black Cowboy Museum TX$192,088 Chief Executive Officer $36,000 $39,852 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to NY 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 NY 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 default3rd
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)3rd
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted6th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted3rd

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 (Richard Doctorow) 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 65 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A54), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $4,000 is reasonable (approximately the 3rd 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.