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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Great Lakes Center For Education

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 383555110
MI · NTEE B052
FY ending 2024-08-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Maddie Fennell, Executive Director / CEO ($76,000) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 24 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 42nd percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Maddie Fennell — reported title “Executive Dir.”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

24 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 24 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$7,460 total compensation of comparable organizations → $260,195 $76,000
$15,09010th
$50,06325th
$88,346Median
$145,72275th
$175,81290th
$76,000This org · 42nd
p10$15,090
p25$50,063
p50$88,346
p75$145,722
p90$175,812
$76,000

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
Persuasion Institute DC$389,863 President $119,634 $104,715 2023
Washington Coalition For Police WA$385,521 Interim Executive Director $96,635 $83,822 2024
Wa Charters Action WA$400,024 Co-president, External Affairs $71,216 $63,598 2023
Yorktown Institute MD$378,691 President $8,000 $7,460 2023
Plus Foundation MN$372,652 Ceo, Plus $31,170 $29,840 2024
National Athletic Equipment OH$362,223 Executive Director $73,494 $75,415 2024
Vdare Foundation WV$435,608 President $50,833 $53,324 2024
Wmc Litigation Center Inc WI$448,596 Executive Director $169,546 $171,549 2024
Hildreth Institute Inc MA$451,001 Managing Director $160,000 $139,298 2024
Coalition For Career Development Center VA$460,380 Execu Director $210,000 $202,247 2023
Broad And Liberty Inc PA$315,397 Executive Director $130,538 $129,845 2023
Network For Public Education Inc NY$314,316 Executive Director $90,455 $79,190 2024
Colorado Association For Gifted And CO$312,955 Executive Di $43,358 $40,279 2024
Minnesota Parent Union MN$310,192 Executive Director $180,125 $177,530 2023
North American Case Research Association Inc ID$308,618 Treasurer $10,837 $11,169 2024
Farm And City TX$478,727 Executive Dir. $73,784 $73,618 2023
Research Bridge Partners Inc TX$298,297 President & Ceo $260,778 $260,195 2023
Naiop Research Foundation Inc VA$499,953 Ex-officio (Thru 6/2022) $178,389 $171,803 2023
Ohio Mayors Alliance Foundation OH$503,432 Executive Director $112,318 $115,254 2024
Achieve Brown County Inc WI$533,948 Executive Director $104,546 $105,781 2024
The Higher Education Partnership AL$545,384 Executive Director $19,941 $20,872 2024
Great Lakes Education Foundation MI$550,100 Treasurer $12,250 $12,612 2023
Rockland 21st Century Collaborative NY$564,116 Executive Director $188,462 $164,992 2024
The Arkansas Stem Coalition AR$572,294 Executive Director $82,831 $92,869 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 default42nd
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)42nd
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted46th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted29th

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 (Maddie Fennell) 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 24 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (B05), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $76,000 is reasonable (approximately the 42nd 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.