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

Salisbury Foundation For Research And Education Inc

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 205582784
NC · NTEE H99
FY ending 2024-09-30
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Lawrence M Sama, Executive Director / CEO ($47,394) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 16 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 44th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Lawrence M Sama — reported title “EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

16 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 16 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$8,054 total compensation of comparable organizations → $126,207 $47,394
$16,81710th
$33,82525th
$53,024Median
$83,28375th
$111,24390th
$47,394This org · 44th
p10$16,817
p25$33,825
p50$53,024
p75$83,283
p90$111,243
$47,394

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 NC 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
Mircore MI$376,476 President And Director $27,200 $27,973 2023
Isthmus Project Inc WI$388,813 President/chief Innovation Officer $34,380 $35,775 2023
Jacksonville Health & Educational Resource Ctr Inc FL$398,930 Director $41,890 $38,085 2024
Duke Medicine Global Support Corporation NC$399,475 Director/president $37,764 $38,879 2023
John Paul Ii Medical Research Institute IA$347,088 President $69,392 $75,706 2023
Alaska Cardiovascular Research AK$336,332 Executive Director $53,862 $51,309 2023
Hawaii Cellular Therapy And Transplant HI$323,338 Pres/ceo $83,933 $70,852 2025
Dorn Research Institute Inc SC$460,393 Executive Di $125,000 $126,207 2024
The Myocarditis Foundation TX$468,356 Executive Director $107,000 $103,587 2024
International Biomedical Research DC$292,601 President $140,000 $118,899 2024
The Ros1ders Inc CA$286,612 Executive Dir. $9,361 $8,054 2023
Veterans Research & Education OK$493,862 Executive Di $51,364 $54,738 2024
La Jolla Infectious Disease Institute CA$516,793 President, Ceo $28,033 $24,119 2023
Sleep Research Society Foundation (Srsf) IL$528,992 President $10,000 $9,515 2024
American Sleep Apnea Association Inc DC$551,803 Executive Director $100,000 $87,437 2023
Np2 CA$570,351 Exec Director $97,999 $81,898 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to NC 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 NC 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 default44th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)44th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted44th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted31st

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 (Lawrence M Sama) 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 16 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (H99), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $47,394 is reasonable (approximately the 44th 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.