Executive Director / CEO
This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Denise Laden, Executive Director / CEO ($47,085) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 297 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.
Compensation sits at approximately the 40th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range
Benchmarked executive: Denise Laden — reported title “President”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.
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 NJ cost of living (BEA RPP, 2023) and to its filing year (CPI-U); the reported amount is on each linked 990.
| Organization | State | Revenue | Matched title | Comp (reported) | Comp (adjusted) | FY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harborlight Nursery School Inc | MA | $350,619 | Executive Director | $73,000 | $73,472 | 2024 |
| Community Nursery School Of Wayland | MA | $350,992 | Registrar | $44,998 | $44,122 | 2025 |
| Creative Beginning Child Care Center | NY | $351,556 | Executive Director | $56,288 | $55,500 | 2025 |
| Meadows Place Preschool | TX | $351,827 | Executive Director | $54,000 | $62,287 | 2023 |
| Mancos Valley Dragonfly School | CO | $351,958 | Executive Dir. | $40,800 | $43,818 | 2024 |
| Little Sprouts Learning Center Inc | MN | $352,085 | Board Member | $37,711 | $42,968 | 2023 |
| Growing Tree Inc | TN | $347,057 | Director | $46,760 | $55,050 | 2024 |
| Jens Infants And Toddlers Inc | LA | $352,583 | President | $35,630 | $43,942 | 2024 |
| Rockport Christian Service Inc | TX | $346,774 | Director | $54,365 | $62,708 | 2023 |
| Kaleidoscope School | WA | $346,306 | President/treasury | $63,064 | $61,608 | 2025 |
| Massachusetts Head Start Association Inc | MA | $353,945 | Executive Director | $112,997 | $113,728 | 2024 |
| The Way Enterprises Inc | CA | $354,246 | Ceo | $46,000 | $43,341 | 2025 |
| Touch Heart Center For Development Inc | VA | $354,268 | Director | $21,500 | $23,251 | 2024 |
| Early Foundations Inc | PA | $354,551 | President | $15,261 | $17,549 | 2023 |
| Colebrook Community Child Care | NH | $354,795 | Executive Director | $60,702 | $62,777 | 2024 |
| Fallston Country Pre-kindergar | MD | $344,539 | Teacher | $46,295 | $47,227 | 2025 |
| Cisco Center Foundation Inc | MD | $344,268 | Ex Officio A | $31,500 | $32,984 | 2024 |
| Bee Loved Preschool A Preschool Of Bcumc | TX | $355,942 | Bee Loved Director | $53,125 | $57,986 | 2025 |
| Spring Hill Center | NH | $357,304 | Program Director | $49,527 | $51,220 | 2024 |
| Live Oak Preschool | CA | $358,451 | Executive Dir. | $75,665 | $71,293 | 2025 |
| Haytown Road Nursery School | NJ | $358,488 | School Director | $47,016 | $48,405 | 2023 |
| Creative Play Children's Learning | FL | $341,063 | Director | $49,252 | $53,353 | 2023 |
| Berkeley Hills Parents Association | CA | $340,360 | Exec. Direct | $77,439 | $74,894 | 2024 |
| Mckeen Street Learning Center | ME | $359,407 | President/director | $78,321 | $87,839 | 2024 |
| Montessori In The Woods Inc | PA | $359,904 | Executive Director | $50,000 | $57,496 | 2023 |
Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to NJ cost of living and 2024 dollars. Click any organization to verify the figure on ProPublica.
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 NJ 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.
Sensitivity — the subject's percentile under alternative compensation definitions:
| Basis | Subject percentile |
|---|---|
| Total compensation (D + F), cost-of-living + inflation adjusted — the PeerBasis default | 40th |
| Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments) | 48th |
| Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted | 40th |
| All sources (D + E + F), adjusted | 40th |
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.
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
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.