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

Magical Strings Of Youth Nfp

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 202231076
IL · NTEE A6C
FY ending 2023-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Betty Haag-kuhnke, Executive Director / CEO ($15,000) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 787 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 28th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Betty Haag-kuhnke — reported title “PRESIDENT”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

787 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 787 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$256 total compensation of comparable organizations → $440,416 $15,000
$4,59910th
$13,60325th
$29,217Median
$48,56475th
$65,85290th
$15,000This org · 28th
p10$4,599
p25$13,603
p50$29,217
p75$48,564
p90$65,852
$15,000

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 IL 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
The Living Bible Museum Inc OH$128,599 Trustee $12,020 $12,578 2024
Dance Films Association Inc NY$128,646 Executive Director $38,750 $35,617 2023
Winter Center For Indigenous NH$128,356 President $4,204 $4,110 2022
General John A Logan Museum IL$128,680 Executive Di $27,300 $27,300 2023
7 Rivers Alliance Inc WI$128,687 Executive Di $77,942 $80,422 2024
Museum Of The West Texas Frontier TX$128,710 Director $10,615 $10,490 2024
Southwest Seattle Historical Society WA$128,815 Executive Dir. $60,138 $53,196 2024
Musiconnects Inc MA$128,066 Executive Di $65,000 $56,221 2025
Wildstar Academy OR$128,981 Executive Director $6,000 $5,505 2024
The Classical Saxophone Project Inc NY$128,004 President $27,500 $24,551 2024
Cimarron Heritage Center OK$128,001 Director $30,000 $31,796 2025
Northern Ohio Children's Performing OH$129,032 Executive Director $64,419 $67,410 2024
Museum Of Broadcast Communications IL$127,961 Chairman/treasurer/ceo $36,539 $35,491 2024
San Antonio Art League TX$129,113 Committee Chair $6,000 $5,777 2025
Ihsaa Achieve Foundation IA$127,905 Executive Director $56,244 $60,844 2024
Francis Hardy Center For The Arts WI$127,870 Executive Director $50,000 $51,592 2024
Southwest Symphony Orchestra IL$127,769 Former Director $17,515 $16,574 2025
Jamaica Plain Arts And Civic Center MA$127,606 Executive Director $709 $630 2024
The Institute For Jewish Research MA$129,559 President $59,500 $52,826 2024
Asi-kp Inc VA$129,620 Exec Director $9,000 $8,586 2024
29 Pieces Amend TX$127,096 Executive Director $24,152 $24,574 2023
San Antonio Conservation Society TX$127,075 Executive Director $13,380 $13,614 2023
Woods Hole Film Festival Inc MA$127,022 Vice President/treasurer $46,731 $40,419 2025
Transylvania Community Arts Council NC$130,060 Executive Director $58,750 $59,975 2024
Columbia County Historical & Genealogical Society PA$130,316 Executive Director $5,000 $4,927 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to IL cost of living and 2023 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 IL 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 default28th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)26th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted30th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted25th

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 (Betty Haag-kuhnke) 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 787 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE major group (A), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $15,000 is reasonable (approximately the 28th 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.