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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

St Louis Classical Guitar

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 431131456
MO · NTEE A680
FY ending 2023-06-30
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Brian Vaccaro, Executive Director / CEO ($66,462) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 164 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 83rd percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

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

How comparable organizations were selected

164 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 164 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$104 total compensation of comparable organizations → $137,798 $66,462
$9,88210th
$20,51425th
$37,740Median
$53,67975th
$75,71290th
$66,462This org · 83rd
p10$9,882
p25$20,514
p50$37,740
p75$53,679
p90$75,712
$66,462

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 MO 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
Songfest Inc OH$238,320 President $71,250 $69,206 2024
Music Is Art NY$238,547 Executive Director $69,216 $57,358 2024
Oregon Mozart Players OR$236,572 Executive Di $25,000 $20,742 2025
Dallas Bach Society TX$238,812 Executive Director $20,000 $18,889 2023
Ten Sleepless Knights Inc VI$239,048 President $8,380 $8,380 2023
Bach Beethoven & Brahms Society Of Boston Inc MA$236,272 Director $1,803 $1,447 2025
Okc Improv Foundation OK$236,224 Executive Director $22,125 $22,342 2024
Queen Bee Music Association NM$239,253 Executive Dir. $38,457 $37,932 2024
The Mundi Project UT$239,581 Executive Di $46,910 $44,029 2024
Ansonia Music Outreach Organization Inc NY$240,243 President $44,974 $37,269 2024
Pappy Martin Legacy Jazz Collective Inc NY$235,048 Executive Director $19,200 $16,381 2023
Sound Impact VA$240,775 Secretary $32,945 $30,033 2023
Poss Music Works Nfp IL$240,849 Executive Director $20,000 $17,566 2025
Crescendo Inc CT$241,857 Founding And Artistic Director $30,000 $25,795 2024
Asociacion Suzuki De Puerto Rico Inc PR$244,801 Administrator $35,132 $34,124 2024
Music Heals International CA$245,634 Founder/exec $44,550 $35,279 2024
Colorado Music Bridge CO$245,716 Co-exec Director $18,000 $16,296 2023
Campbell Learning Center Inc TX$246,185 Director $58,994 $55,717 2023
The Tidewater Winds VA$228,993 Executive Di $52,499 $47,859 2023
Asheville Music School Sound Education NC$247,759 Ex Officio $43,403 $40,067 2025
Contemporaneous Inc NY$249,614 Director $30,057 $24,908 2024
Mallarme Chamber Players Inc NC$249,676 Artistic Director $77,004 $72,967 2024
Montana Chamber Music Society MT$249,956 Director $108 $104 2025
Taiko Community Alliance CA$224,568 Executive Director $38,967 $30,857 2024
Oklahoma Philharmonic Affiliated Fund Of OK$223,708 Secretary $25,864 $26,889 2023

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to MO cost of living and 2023 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 MO 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 default83rd
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)77th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted84th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted82nd

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 Vaccaro) 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 164 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A68), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $66,462 is reasonable (approximately the 83rd 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.