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

Northen Culture Exchange

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 455266934
AK · NTEE A20
FY ending 2023-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Yngvil Vatn Guttu, Executive Director / CEO ($41,500) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 304 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 45th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Yngvil Vatn Guttu — reported title “SecretaryDirED”, selected as the organization's highest-paid individual — no exact title match, so confirm this is a comparable role.

How comparable organizations were selected

304 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 304 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$286 total compensation of comparable organizations → $291,120 $41,500
$9,15610th
$24,77725th
$44,612Median
$63,11075th
$79,59890th
$41,500This org · 45th
p10$9,156
p25$24,777
p50$44,612
p75$63,110
p90$79,598
$41,500

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 AK 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
J Austin White Cultural Center Inc AR$269,962 Executive Di $46,500 $53,103 2024
Englewood Cultural Arts Center CO$269,096 Executive Dir. $24,000 $23,380 2024
Stove Works TN$268,772 Executive Director $6,000 $6,597 2023
Youth Art Team IA$270,875 Executive Director $91,450 $101,730 2024
A Blade Of Grass Fund NY$268,734 Interim Executive Director $111,932 $105,794 2023
Can Foundation VA$268,491 Treasurer $620 $626 2023
Museum Of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara CA$267,953 Executive Director $48,038 $42,143 2024
Ely Folk School MN$267,705 Program Director $40,165 $41,512 2023
Big Medium TX$272,568 Executive Director $88,723 $90,168 2024
Arts Longview TX$266,310 Executive Director $52,597 $53,453 2024
Dulce Upfront Labs CA$265,904 Co-director $44,316 $38,878 2024
San Francisco International Arts Festival Inc CA$265,801 President, Executive Director $70,000 $61,410 2024
Godfrey Daniels PA$274,421 Executive Director $40,000 $40,526 2024
Immersive Arts Alliance CA$264,651 Exec Directo $24,500 $22,128 2023
Carnegie Visual Arts Center Inc AL$264,371 Executive Di $44,000 $48,294 2024
Pasacat Inc CA$264,275 Executive Director Administra $5,700 $5,148 2023
Orion Art Center MI$275,474 Executive Di $53,309 $55,903 2024
Friends Of The Chief Foundation Inc CO$275,989 Executive Director $9,500 $10,713 2021
Rhode Island Black Storytellers RI$263,583 Executive Director $60,643 $59,077 2024
Boston Art Review Inc MA$276,312 President $74,906 $68,386 2024
People And Stories Gente Y Cuentos NJ$276,496 Exec. Direct $69,731 $63,252 2024
Next Edge Arts Inc NY$277,332 Artistic Dir $10,250 $9,688 2023
Meetinghouse Arts ME$277,723 Executive Director $50,000 $50,867 2024
Que-os NC$261,808 Executive Director $79,186 $80,984 2025
Rockport Cultural Arts District TX$261,701 Executive Director $76,000 $79,519 2023

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to AK 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 AK 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 default45th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)42nd
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted46th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted43rd

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 (Yngvil Vatn Guttu) 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 304 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A20), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $41,500 is reasonable (approximately the 45th 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.