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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Aiken Center For The Arts Inc

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 237249651
SC · NTEE A400
FY ending 2025-06-30
June 10, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Caroline Gwinn, Executive Director / CEO ($97,818) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 79 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 84th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Caroline Gwinn — reported title “Executive Dir.”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

79 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 79 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$5,351 total compensation of comparable organizations → $164,951 $97,818
$38,04010th
$55,56525th
$74,950Median
$86,00575th
$105,84590th
$97,818This org · 84th
p10$38,040
p25$55,565
p50$74,950
p75$86,005
p90$105,845
$97,818

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 SC 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
Harvester Arts KS$624,221 Executive Di $39,435 $41,917 2024
Kc Clay Guild MO$617,478 Volunteer Chair $10,500 $10,942 2024
Cleveland Print Room Inc OH$629,357 Executive Di $75,000 $78,158 2024
Sinaca Studios - School Of Glass And Gallery TX$608,829 Executive Director $39,279 $38,659 2024
Oil Painters Of America IL$635,388 Executive Dir. $46,875 $45,342 2024
🔒 74 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 SC cost of living and 2025 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 SC 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 default84th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)78th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted87th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted84th

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 79-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 10, 2026.