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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Design Museum Foundation Inc

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 270816164
MA · NTEE A40
FY ending 2023-06-30
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Maria Villafranca Since 0722, Executive Director / CEO ($92,770) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 82 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 77th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Maria Villafranca Since 0722 — reported title “EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

82 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 82 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$5,879 total compensation of comparable organizations → $174,652 $92,770
$39,28010th
$58,95725th
$76,832Median
$91,07475th
$110,26490th
$92,770This org · 77th
p10$39,280
p25$58,957
p50$76,832
p75$91,074
p90$110,264
$92,770

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 MA 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
Silver Eye Center For Photography PA$540,833 Executive Director $40,916 $45,406 2023
Downtown Aurora Visual Arts CO$540,411 Executive Di $83,200 $88,779 2023
Sonoran Art Foundation Inc AZ$547,466 Interim Executive Director $54,923 $57,093 2024
The Bronx River Art Center Inc NY$532,119 Executive Director $90,116 $90,619 2023
Anacortes Arts Festival WA$552,173 Executive Director $102,411 $99,107 2024
🔒 77 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 MA cost of living and 2023 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 MA 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 default77th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)78th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted65th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted76th

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 82-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.