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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 421329035
IA · NTEE A840
FY ending 2024-09-30
June 13, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Karol Shepherd Term 824, Executive Director / CEO ($66,484) against the 2000 closest of 2,951 comparable organizations — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 67th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Karol Shepherd Term 824 — reported title “EXEC DIRECTO”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

2,951 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 2,000 within the band form the benchmarked peer set (closest by budget).

Distribution of comparable compensation

$3 total compensation of comparable organizations → $266,013 $66,484
$18,09710th
$35,05725th
$55,086Median
$72,67975th
$89,43290th
$66,484This org · 67th
p10$18,097
p25$35,057
p50$55,086
p75$72,679
p90$89,432
$66,484

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 IA 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
Saratoga Springs NY$477,476 Chief Executive Officer $11,723 $9,675 2024
Society For History And Racial MI$477,508 Executive Di $72,488 $70,351 2023
Noah Webster House Inc CT$477,253 Executive Director $40,884 $35,010 2024
Ethel's Foundation For The Arts Inc NY$476,928 Director $65,250 $55,440 2023
Creative Kids Playhouse Childrens CA$476,911 President $37,015 $30,053 2023
Brasil Brasil Cultural Center CA$477,881 Director $50,600 $39,905 2024
Colab Arts Inc NJ$476,703 Producing Di $59,615 $47,358 2025
Young Actors Theater Inc CA$476,689 Executive Director $67,981 $55,196 2023
Norwalk Seaport Association Inc CT$478,246 Business Manger $85,800 $75,642 2023
Good Shepherd Radio Inc IN$478,421 President $79,156 $78,489 2023
Luminaria TX$478,477 Executive Dir. $73,172 $68,823 2023
Columbia Festival Inc MD$478,660 Managing Director $60,394 $51,567 2024
Jmpro Community Media Inc NC$476,017 Executive Director $57,686 $54,437 2024
Hued Songs Inc FL$475,996 President $51,600 $44,271 2024
Lowell Art Association MA$475,992 President $106,923 $87,752 2024
International Society Daughters Of Utah Pioneers UT$478,823 Treasurer $4,500 $4,206 2024
Real News Project Inc NY$475,910 President $155,000 $127,918 2024
Art & Creativity For Healing CA$475,839 Exec Dir/member $68,400 $55,535 2023
Dunwoody Preservation Trust Inc GA$478,948 Executive Director $50,000 $47,272 2023
Les Delices OH$478,951 Executive Di $73,568 $69,330 2025
Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra GA$475,812 President $3,448 $3,166 2024
Florida Keys History And Discovery FL$475,636 Executive Director $85,833 $75,817 2023
Renaissance Music Academy Of Va VA$475,464 President $28,456 $25,835 2023
Kantorei CO$475,392 Managing Artistic Director $82,086 $71,886 2024
Montez Press Arts Inc NY$479,513 Ex-officio Board Mem $75,532 $62,335 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to IA 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 IA 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 default67th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)56th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted69th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted64th

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 (Karol Shepherd Term 824) 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 $66,484 is reasonable (approximately the 67th 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.