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

Seenfire Foundation

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 474734762
CA · NTEE A02
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 13, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Christoph Geiseler, Executive Director / CEO ($97,000) against the 2000 closest of 2,942 comparable organizations — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 78th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Christoph Geiseler — reported title “TRUSTEE & PRESIDENT”, selected as the organization's highest-paid individual — no exact title match, so confirm this is a comparable role.

How comparable organizations were selected

2,942 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 2,000 within the band form the benchmarked peer set (closest by budget).

Distribution of comparable compensation

$4 total compensation of comparable organizations → $337,309 $97,000
$23,54010th
$44,88025th
$69,997Median
$93,31975th
$115,11390th
$97,000This org · 78th
p10$23,540
p25$44,880
p50$69,997
p75$93,319
p90$115,113
$97,000

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 CA 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
Hagood Mill Foundation SC$488,532 Executive Di $62,400 $75,389 2024
New York City Fire Museum NY$488,444 Former Executive Director $120,934 $126,554 2024
Barn Raising Media Inc IL$488,435 President $95,668 $106,113 2025
Tkiya Music Inc NY$488,414 Executive Director $110,967 $119,554 2023
Great Barrington Public Theater Inc MA$488,819 Development Director $41,250 $42,927 2024
Revere Community Media Center Inc MA$488,966 Executive Director $91,608 $98,149 2023
Enrich Chicago IL$489,079 Executive Director $89,889 $102,341 2024
Foundation To Advance Jazz CA$489,131 Executive Director Chief Content Offcicer $98,000 $100,895 2023
Arthouse Studio Inc CA$489,139 Executive Dir. $113,300 $113,300 2024
Participant Inc NY$488,032 Founder/director $35,385 $37,029 2024
Mabou Mines Development Foundation Inc NY$488,018 President $18,120 $18,962 2024
Ballet North Texas TX$487,964 Executive Director $24,000 $27,802 2024
America's Survival Inc MD$489,252 President $4,250 $4,482 2025
Washington Project For The Arts Inc DC$487,921 Interim Executive Dir (Thru April) $52,404 $54,828 2023
Historic Manassas Inc VA$487,916 Executive Director $94,490 $108,777 2023
Hawaii Mobile Museum Of Tolerance HI$489,330 Executive Director $130,000 $134,788 2024
Latinos United For A New America CA$487,880 Co-director $87,517 $87,517 2024
Marion Art Center Inc MA$487,843 Executive Dir. $77,171 $80,309 2024
Subject Matter Inc NY$487,822 Co-executive Director $60,000 $62,788 2024
Afro-american Historical Association Of Fauquier County VA$487,717 Pres, Exec Dir $36,664 $40,997 2024
Pittsburgh International Folk Arts Institute PA$487,691 Executive Director $38,000 $45,181 2023
The Shine Arts Foundation TX$487,667 President $38,252 $44,313 2024
Historic Crab Orchard Museum VA$489,648 Executive Director $52,814 $59,055 2024
Notable Music And Arts Organization CA$490,000 Officer, Director $30,000 $30,000 2024
The Virgin Island Childrens Museum VI$490,033 Executive Dir. $36,000 $37,063 2023

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to CA 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 CA 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 default78th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)86th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted80th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted76th

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 (Christoph Geiseler) 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 $97,000 is reasonable (approximately the 78th 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.