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

The Episcopal Actors' Guild

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 135563397
NY · NTEE A900
FY ending 2025-03-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Karen Lehman Foster, Executive Director / CEO ($194,093) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 46 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 98th percentile of comparable organizationsabove the 90th percentile — board review recommended

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

How comparable organizations were selected

46 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 46 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$5,397 total compensation of comparable organizations → $195,379 $194,093
$26,14010th
$45,69825th
$75,955Median
$89,77475th
$108,47390th
$194,093This org · 98th
p10$26,140
p25$45,698
p50$75,955
p75$89,774
p90$108,473
$194,093

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
San Jose Multicultural Artists Guild Inc CA$464,731 Executive Dir. $35,900 $36,253 2023
Colorado West Performing Arts CO$465,186 Executive Di $9,843 $10,721 2024
River Oaks Square Arts & Craft Center LA$458,843 Executive Dir. $61,445 $79,127 2023
Zygote Press Inc OH$466,315 Executive Di $81,080 $97,549 2024
Chicago Artists Coalition IL$451,588 Executive Director $50,329 $57,866 2023
Society For History And Racial MI$477,508 Executive Di $72,488 $87,501 2023
Arts & Business Council Of Miami Inc FL$438,365 Executive Director $99,000 $102,922 2025
Jamestowne Society Inc VA$491,201 Executive Director $62,275 $68,303 2024
Augusta Ferry Authority Inc KY$492,569 President $23,492 $28,670 2024
Workshop 13 Inc MA$428,532 Executive Di $59,780 $61,022 2024
Common Wealth Mural Collaborative MA$496,966 President $84,423 $86,176 2024
Chatfield Center For The Arts Inc MN$427,659 Part Year Ex $65,865 $73,929 2024
Latitude Inc Nfp IL$499,033 Executive Director $75,000 $81,598 2025
Arte Y Mana Inc PR$419,663 Executive Director $85,230 $87,485 2024
Holly Springs Center SC$419,104 Executive Di $35,316 $43,087 2023
Studio By The Tracks Inc AL$506,184 Executive Director $63,545 $77,981 2024
Community Artists Collective TX$508,383 Exec Dir $40,000 $45,451 2024
Springtime Tallahassee Festival Inc FL$413,087 Executive Director $52,929 $58,150 2023
Interurban Arthouse KS$514,711 Chief Executive Officer $71,655 $90,531 2023
Lawyers For The Creative Arts IL$516,381 Executive Dir. $135,400 $151,208 2024
Georgia Lawyers For The Arts Inc GA$517,427 Executive Director $162,500 $191,083 2023
Noblesville Creates IN$520,481 Executive Director $74,450 $91,818 2023
Ogden First Inc UT$520,800 Executive Director $69,390 $80,673 2024
The Writers Room NY$522,020 Director $154,643 $163,423 2023
Hero Workshop CA$523,629 Chief Executive Officer $43,846 $43,008 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 2025 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 default98th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)100th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted91st
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted98th

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 (Karen Lehman Foster) 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 46 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A90), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $194,093 is reasonable (approximately the 98th 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.