Live preview — download the board-ready PDF to attach to your minutes.Download the free PDF
Email yourself a copy:
PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

The Flame Foundation

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 364648890
TX · NTEE A62
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Delilah Buitron, Executive Director / CEO ($30,382) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 115 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 46th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Delilah Buitron — reported title “Pres/Art Direct”, selected as the organization's highest-paid individual — no exact title match, so confirm this is a comparable role.

How comparable organizations were selected

115 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 115 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$282 total compensation of comparable organizations → $141,292 $30,382
$8,12910th
$16,87725th
$32,328Median
$50,09275th
$69,78090th
$30,382This org · 46th
p10$8,129
p25$16,877
p50$32,328
p75$50,092
p90$69,780
$30,382

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
Cohesion Dance Project MT$249,359 Artistic Director $30,000 $32,328 2024
Jones-haywood Dance School Inc DC$250,155 Ceo/artistic Dir $50,000 $42,732 2025
Chicago Dance History Project IL$249,068 Executive Director $75,000 $73,711 2024
Circo Zero CA$253,415 Artistic Director/treasurer $46,100 $39,795 2024
Alexander Academy Performing HI$253,930 President $20,205 $18,084 2024
Heather Wayne Dance Company GA$254,178 President $16,970 $17,058 2024
Contact Arts CA$244,950 Executive Dir. $18,786 $16,696 2023
West Florida Dance Company Booster Club Inc FL$244,948 President $300 $282 2024
Lydia Johnson Dance Inc NJ$254,743 Artistic Dir $69,014 $61,599 2024
Brockus Project Dance Company CA$255,450 President $50,532 $44,910 2023
Spotlight Productions & Co Inc MA$241,520 Executive Di $85,082 $76,432 2024
Ginger Brown's Academy Of Performing Art GA$258,284 Director $5,694 $5,892 2023
Hedwig Dances Inc IL$258,348 Artistic Dir $65,000 $63,883 2024
Dalton Dance Company GA$240,550 Board Member $13,900 $13,972 2024
Developing Connections Northeast OH$238,232 Executive Di $76,867 $79,291 2025
Positive Outcome Mentoring & Dance Inc MD$237,831 Founder And Director $8,499 $7,739 2025
Dance Studies Association IL$236,904 Executive Director $50,797 $49,924 2024
Arena Dances Inc MN$263,987 Artistic Dir $29,800 $28,678 2025
Encinitas Ballet Academy And Arts Center CA$234,736 Ceo, Artistic Director $43,750 $38,882 2023
Boston Dance Theater MA$265,217 Ex-officio $58,073 $52,169 2024
Resilience Dance Company Stl MO$232,570 Executive And Artistic Director $23,803 $24,553 2025
Sjdanceco CA$232,074 Artistic Director & Founder $7,200 $6,399 2023
Blue 13 Dance Company Inc CA$232,003 Executive Director $18,708 $16,149 2024
Dance Augusta Inc GA$231,610 President $9,900 $9,951 2024
Rejoice Diaspora Dance Theater OR$231,453 President $23,869 $22,159 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 default46th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)48th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted46th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted46th

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 (Delilah Buitron) 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 115 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A62), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $30,382 is reasonable (approximately the 46th 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.