Executive Director / CEO
This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Karla Scovell, Executive Director / CEO ($68,805) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 121 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.
Compensation sits at approximately the 81st percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range
Benchmarked executive: Karla Scovell — reported title “Executive Director”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.
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 SD cost of living (BEA RPP, 2023) and to its filing year (CPI-U); the reported amount is on each linked 990.
| Organization | State | Revenue | Matched title | Comp (reported) | Comp (adjusted) | FY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Musical Arts Society Of New Orleans | LA | $275,504 | Executive Dir. | $40,000 | $41,088 | 2023 |
| The Whitesbog Preservation Trust Inc | NJ | $276,286 | Executive Dir. | $58,000 | $46,922 | 2024 |
| Main Street Portsmouth | OH | $275,016 | Executive Di | $27,605 | $27,275 | 2023 |
| Charleston County Parks Foundation | SC | $276,622 | Executive Di | $61,534 | $58,167 | 2024 |
| Berwick Historical Society | PA | $273,374 | Executive Director | $54,530 | $49,273 | 2024 |
| Louisiana Children's | LA | $272,001 | Operations M | $30,000 | $29,932 | 2024 |
| Middle Passage Ceremonies & Port | FL | $269,967 | Executive Director | $47,796 | $40,684 | 2024 |
| Friends Of Florida History Inc | FL | $285,007 | Division Dir | $21,686 | $19,005 | 2023 |
| Discovery Expedition Of St Charles Mo Inc | MO | $266,577 | Executive Director | $56,692 | $56,015 | 2023 |
| Trail Of Tears Association Inc | OK | $266,003 | Executive Director | $75,921 | $75,749 | 2024 |
| Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area | VA | $264,630 | Executive Di | $81,780 | $73,661 | 2023 |
| Wayne County Historical Museum Inc | IN | $263,992 | Interim Executive Director | $49,994 | $47,771 | 2024 |
| Coutts Memorial Museum Of Art Inc | KS | $263,982 | Executive Director | $66,250 | $64,851 | 2024 |
| Historical Society Of Montgomery County | PA | $287,660 | Executive Director | $73,017 | $67,926 | 2023 |
| The Cambridge Historical Society | MA | $290,178 | Executive Director | $116,615 | $94,952 | 2024 |
| Central Virginia Battlefields Trust | VA | $261,071 | Executive Di | $68,727 | $61,904 | 2023 |
| Alliance For Historic Hillsborough | NC | $260,988 | Exec Director | $45,454 | $42,556 | 2024 |
| Historic Railroad Square Association | CA | $259,718 | Executive Dir. | $34,130 | $26,704 | 2024 |
| Aristides De Sousa Mendes Foundation-us | NY | $292,011 | Board President And Ceo | $51,004 | $41,761 | 2024 |
| Sarpy County Historical Society | NE | $292,637 | Executive Director | $57,115 | $57,306 | 2023 |
| Adena Mansion And Gardens Society | OH | $256,847 | Executive Director | $56,686 | $54,401 | 2024 |
| Fptower Inc | NC | $256,355 | Executive Director | $36,000 | $33,705 | 2024 |
| Camelot Days Inc | FL | $296,448 | Director | $10,000 | $8,512 | 2024 |
| The Freedom Archives | CA | $254,114 | Director | $50,000 | $39,121 | 2024 |
| North Hawaii Heritage Foundation | HI | $298,274 | Executive Director | $47,654 | $38,659 | 2024 |
Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to SD cost of living and 2024 dollars. Click any organization to verify the figure on ProPublica.
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 SD 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.
Sensitivity — the subject's percentile under alternative compensation definitions:
| Basis | Subject percentile |
|---|---|
| Total compensation (D + F), cost-of-living + inflation adjusted — the PeerBasis default | 81st |
| Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments) | 69th |
| Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted | 83rd |
| All sources (D + E + F), adjusted | 79th |
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.
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
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.