Live preview — download the board-ready PDF to attach to your minutes.Download PDF — $49
PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Society Of Wine Educators Inc

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 222238037
DC · NTEE N50Z
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Vanessa Kuffner-brandenburg, Executive Director / CEO ($134,302) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 53 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 85th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Vanessa Kuffner-brandenburg — reported title “GENERAL MANAGER”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

53 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 53 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$694 total compensation of comparable organizations → $267,117 $134,302
$5,44010th
$15,21025th
$58,874Median
$101,79075th
$136,70990th
$134,302This org · 85th
p10$5,440
p25$15,210
p50$58,874
p75$101,790
p90$136,709
$134,302

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 DC 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
Chi Of Tau Kappa Epsilon Building WA$868,301 Executive Board Treasurer $5,057 $5,159 2024
Emmorton Recreation Council Inc MD$886,665 Treasurer $15,000 $16,453 2023
Theta Chapter Of Alpha Phi Inc CO$842,029 President $5,000 $5,323 2025
The Garand Collectors Association Inc KS$835,201 Director/editor $20,000 $23,987 2025
Mobile Area Tennis Association Inc AL$833,858 Exec Directo $52,800 $63,327 2025
🔒 48 more comparable organizations — included in the purchased report

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to DC 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 DC 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 default85th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)91st
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted81st
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted83rd

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:

Ready-to-adopt board minutes — executive compensation

🔒 The complete minutes language — three numbered resolutions pre-filled with this organization, the 53-organization comparison, the date, and the percentile finding, ready to paste into your minutes — is included in the purchased report.

Unlock the board report — $49

Running reports for this organization all year? Annual Org Pass — $99/yr.

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.