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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Friends Of The Chicago River

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 363559764
IL · NTEE A82Z
FY ending 2024-06-30
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Margaret Frisbie, Executive Director / CEO ($218,471) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 43 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 95th percentile of comparable organizationsabove the 90th percentile — board review recommended

Benchmarked executive: Margaret Frisbie — reported title “EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

43 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 43 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$6,184 total compensation of comparable organizations → $242,861 $218,471
$57,95410th
$85,82925th
$129,624Median
$149,78675th
$199,55790th
$218,471This org · 95th
p10$57,954
p25$85,829
p50$129,624
p75$149,786
p90$199,557
$218,471

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 IL 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
The Texas State Historical Association TX$1,905,287 Executive Director Thru October 2022 $96,570 $101,161 2023
Pioneer Courthouse Square OR$1,892,203 Executive Dir. $188,142 $177,720 2024
Carpenters' Company Of The City And PA$1,886,690 Executive Director $134,331 $136,260 2024
Historic Morven Inc NJ$1,953,883 Interim Director $88,353 $80,240 2024
Dakota County Historical Society MN$1,873,514 Executive Di $70,690 $71,049 2024
🔒 38 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 IL 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 IL 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 default95th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)93rd
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted91st
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted91st

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 43-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.