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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Opera Philadelphia

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 231504706
PA · NTEE A6A0
FY ending 2024-05-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of David Devan, Executive Director / CEO ($331,719) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 522 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: David Devan — reported title “PRESIDENT”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

522 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 522 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$2,105 total compensation of comparable organizations → $1,015,303 $331,719
$88,79610th
$150,76025th
$218,187Median
$290,46075th
$375,04690th
$331,719This org · 85th
p10$88,796
p25$150,760
p50$218,187
p75$290,460
p90$375,046
$331,719

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 PA 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
Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp MI$9,370,561 Ceo & Interi $109,741 $113,585 2024
Edmundson Art Foundation Inc IA$9,381,811 Executive Director $383,535 $421,111 2024
Association For Research & VA$9,386,314 Executive Director/ceo $180,106 $179,534 2023
Zachary Scott Theatre Center TX$9,337,834 Managing Director $241,815 $242,561 2024
New England Public Media Inc MA$9,416,185 President & Ceo $237,628 $220,454 2023
🔒 517 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 PA 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 PA 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)83rd
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted77th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted82nd

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 522-organization comparison, the date, and the percentile finding, ready to paste into your minutes — is included in the purchased report.

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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.