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

German American Heritage Center

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 421424418
IA · NTEE A500
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Brian Allen, Executive Director / CEO ($67,083) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 99 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 59th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Brian Allen — reported title “EXECUTIVE DI”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

99 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 99 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$7,700 total compensation of comparable organizations → $149,619 $67,083
$22,39310th
$38,07825th
$59,850Median
$80,91275th
$106,20790th
$67,083This org · 59th
p10$22,393
p25$38,078
p50$59,850
p75$80,912
p90$106,207
$67,083

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
Fullerton Museum Center Association CA$440,563 Executive Director $120,300 $97,674 2023
Long Island Maritime Museum NY$429,337 Executive Director $75,094 $63,804 2023
River Road African American Museum And Gallery LA$454,431 Executive Director $32,542 $32,726 2024
The Edge Motor Museum Inc TN$454,726 Executive Director $85,000 $81,600 2024
Rancho Obi-wan Inc CA$419,326 President/ce $29,795 $23,497 2024
Galveston Children's Museum TX$459,157 Executive Director $60,659 $57,054 2023
Lowell's Maritime Foundation Inc MA$460,259 Executive Director $75,602 $62,047 2024
New England Carousel Museum Inc CT$462,629 Executive Dir. $60,192 $51,543 2024
Southeastern Museums Conference GA$411,676 Executive Director $83,825 $79,251 2023
The Coming King Foundation TX$410,943 Executve Director $33,857 $31,845 2023
German Village Society OH$410,500 Executive Di $83,333 $82,990 2023
American Saddle Horse KY$465,305 Executive Director $102,750 $100,820 2024
Hawaiian Railway Society HI$471,022 Key Employee $51,600 $42,192 2024
Owensboro Area Museum Of Science And History Inc KY$396,253 Director $43,828 $43,005 2024
Capri Community Film Society Inc AL$483,006 Director $77,678 $78,906 2023
Afro-american Historical Association Of Fauquier County VA$487,717 Pres, Exec Dir $36,664 $32,331 2024
Kids 'N' Stuff An Interactive Experience For Kids MI$386,571 Executive Director $57,577 $54,276 2024
Hawaii Mobile Museum Of Tolerance HI$489,330 Executive Director $130,000 $106,298 2024
Finger Lakes Boating Musuem Inc NY$492,302 Executive Director $75,000 $61,896 2024
National Soaring Museum NY$493,119 Director $73,298 $60,491 2024
Swift Museum Foundation Inc TN$495,234 Exec Director $33,600 $32,256 2024
Center For Land Use Interpretation CA$379,426 President $51,600 $41,895 2023
Insectarium And Butterfly Pavilion Inc VA$379,388 President And Director $8,481 $7,700 2023
Ashland Community Enterprises PA$377,757 President $36,941 $33,645 2024
New England Ski Museum Inc NH$497,445 Executive Director (Former) $70,000 $59,031 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 default59th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)48th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted60th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted57th

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 (Brian Allen) 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 99 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A50), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $67,083 is reasonable (approximately the 59th 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.