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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Student Statesmanship Institute

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 383033262
MI · NTEE A78Z
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 13, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Joseph Cecil, Executive Director / CEO ($68,640) against the 2000 closest of 2,936 comparable organizations — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 62nd percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Joseph Cecil — reported title “President / CEO”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

2,936 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 2,000 within the band form the benchmarked peer set (closest by budget).

Distribution of comparable compensation

$4 total compensation of comparable organizations → $282,190 $68,640
$20,03310th
$38,07425th
$58,862Median
$78,94675th
$97,21490th
$68,640This org · 62nd
p10$20,033
p25$38,074
p50$58,862
p75$78,946
p90$97,214
$68,640

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 MI 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
Fellowship School Of Creative Arts TN$495,865 President $52,654 $52,240 2025
Japanese Cultural Center Tea House & MI$495,853 Executive Director $23,074 $23,074 2024
Bluebird Cultural Initiative NE$495,819 Executive Dir. $60,000 $62,522 2024
Second Chance Dv Sa Shelter AR$495,781 Executive Di $52,618 $57,302 2024
Bach Dancing And Dynamite Society Inc CA$496,421 President & Ceo $85,532 $71,555 2024
El Paso Holocaust Museum TX$495,728 Executive Dir. $83,152 $80,586 2024
Be The Healing Inc OR$496,535 Executive Dir. $24,000 $21,036 2025
Arts Action Alliance Foundation OR$495,590 Executive Dir. $84,999 $74,503 2025
Noe Valley Chamber Music CA$495,560 Co-artistic Director And Co-executive Director, Board Member $74,107 $60,399 2025
North Atlantic Arts Alliance ME$496,692 Executive Director $50,000 $49,940 2023
Pan American Dance Foundation Inc NY$496,732 Vice - President $28,800 $25,213 2024
Duluth Children's Museum Inc MN$495,301 Executive Director $27,270 $26,106 2024
Swift Museum Foundation Inc TN$495,234 Exec Director $33,600 $34,218 2024
Community Media Access Partnership CA$496,960 Executive Dir. $59,847 $51,546 2023
Common Wealth Mural Collaborative MA$496,966 President $84,423 $73,500 2024
Youth Outreach And Learning Institute CA$497,001 Castro $35,160 $29,414 2024
Tennessee Theater Company TN$495,163 Director $96,000 $97,764 2024
Performing Arts Houston Foundation TX$497,303 Ceo - Performing Arts Hous $13,284 $13,254 2023
Georgia Ensemble Theatre Company GA$497,310 Producing Artistic Director $38,347 $37,356 2024
Theatre 831 CA$494,859 Artistic Director $50,400 $43,410 2023
Educational Theatre Company VA$494,757 Managing Director $78,896 $75,983 2023
New England Ski Museum Inc NH$497,445 Executive Director (Former) $70,000 $62,621 2024
Foundation For Korean Language & Culture In The Usa CA$494,664 Secretary $43,091 $36,049 2024
San Francisco Classical Voice CA$494,641 Exec Director $121,000 $101,227 2024
Fundacion Biblioteca Rafael Hernandez Colon Inc PR$494,635 Executive Director $60,300 $62,081 2023

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to MI 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 MI 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 default62nd
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)57th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted65th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted60th

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 (Joseph Cecil) 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 13, 2026, comparing compensation against 2000 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE major group (A), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $68,640 is reasonable (approximately the 62nd 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 13, 2026.