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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Houston Cinema Arts Society

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 300507986
TX · NTEE A31
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Katherine Creeggan-rios, Executive Director / CEO ($92,943) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 63 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: Katherine Creeggan-rios — reported title “EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

63 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 63 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$1,593 total compensation of comparable organizations → $201,633 $92,943
$8,94110th
$26,70825th
$49,650Median
$74,31775th
$115,43090th
$92,943This org · 84th
p10$8,941
p25$26,708
p50$49,650
p75$74,317
p90$115,430
$92,943

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 TX 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
Cinemama CA$273,475 President $7,380 $6,559 2023
Transgender Film Center Ltd KS$277,574 President/executive Director $11,500 $12,787 2023
Professional Development FL$281,728 President $136,576 $128,263 2024
Witnessing History Education KY$281,798 Director $175,426 $193,979 2023
Jewish Partisan Education Foundation CA$282,356 Foundation Mgr. $108,065 $93,285 2024
Mara Brock Akil's Writers' Colony CA$283,106 Foundation Director $125,000 $107,904 2024
Mirabel Pictures CA$262,326 President $56,000 $49,769 2023
The Generations Project Inc NY$288,484 Executive Dir. $68,000 $63,242 2023
Aurora Picture Show TX$258,263 Executive Director $49,650 $49,650 2024
Clarity Educational Productions Inc CA$256,270 President $90,000 $79,985 2023
Eastland Fine Arts Association TX$254,741 Coo $53,247 $54,820 2023
Screamfest Horror Film Festival CA$253,413 Co-director $41,600 $36,971 2023
Writers Guild Of America East Foundation Inc NY$296,114 Founder And Director $2,800 $2,529 2024
Cinema Tropical Inc NY$252,198 Dir/officer $89,000 $78,325 2025
Make Your Mark Media Inc MD$251,060 Employee $125,700 $120,951 2023
Women Photographers International Archive Inc FL$248,525 President $50,010 $46,966 2024
Myth Media OR$247,747 Executive Dir $28,182 $25,489 2025
Watsonville Film Festival CA$301,726 Executive Dir. $72,000 $62,153 2024
Filmforum Inc CA$303,502 Vice President $18,000 $15,997 2023
Hollywood In Pixels Inc CA$243,170 President/chair $8,300 $7,165 2024
National Center For Jewish Film Inc MA$242,373 Co Director $95,000 $87,863 2023
International Ocean Film Foundation Inc CA$308,708 Executive Director $76,000 $63,915 2025
Monterey County Film Commission CA$238,200 Film Commissioner $92,898 $82,561 2023
Capital City Film Festival MI$237,471 Executive Di $1,500 $1,593 2023
Field Of Vision Inc NY$313,671 Executive Dir. $223,207 $201,633 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to TX 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 TX 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)83rd
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted84th
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:

Draft board minutes — executive compensation

  1. The compensation of the Executive Director / CEO (Katherine Creeggan-rios) was approved in advance by [the Board / Compensation Committee], composed of members with no conflict of interest with respect to the arrangement.
  2. Prior to its determination, the authorized body obtained and relied upon appropriate comparability data, namely the PeerBasis Compensation Comparability Determination dated June 9, 2026, comparing compensation against 63 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A31), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $92,943 is reasonable (approximately the 84th percentile of comparable organizations) and documented the basis for this determination concurrently, on [date], by a vote of [__ for / __ against].

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.