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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Mencius Society For The Arts Inc

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 562343092
NY · NTEE A68
FY ending 2025-01-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Julie Tay, Executive Director / CEO ($34,793) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 18 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 33rd percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

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

How comparable organizations were selected

18 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 18 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$9,692 total compensation of comparable organizations → $118,835 $34,793
$17,38010th
$23,65125th
$47,388Median
$70,78575th
$106,72990th
$34,793This org · 33rd
p10$17,380
p25$23,651
p50$47,388
p75$70,785
p90$106,729
$34,793

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 NY 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
Contemporaneous Inc NY$249,614 Director $30,057 $30,852 2024
The Impact Project NY$265,968 Director $59,250 $60,818 2024
Ansonia Music Outreach Organization Inc NY$240,243 President $44,974 $46,164 2024
Music Is Art NY$238,547 Executive Director $69,216 $71,047 2024
Pappy Martin Legacy Jazz Collective Inc NY$235,048 Executive Director $19,200 $20,290 2023
Close Encounters With Music NY$284,653 Artistic Director $100,000 $102,646 2024
Prism Quartet Incorporated NY$288,772 Executive Director $113,258 $116,255 2024
Thingny NY$294,182 Podcast Director $70,000 $70,000 2025
Early Music Foundation Inc NY$214,692 General Manager $46,000 $48,612 2023
Brooklyn Youth Music Project Inc NY$203,789 Artistic Dir $43,732 $44,889 2024
Keys Corp NY$316,049 Executive Director $43,378 $45,841 2023
New Choral Society Of Central Westchester NY$193,599 Executive Director $18,500 $19,550 2023
Women In Music Inc NY$185,771 President $12,000 $12,318 2024
Make Music Alliance Inc NY$328,374 Executive Director $9,692 $9,692 2025
Anthology Of Recorded Music Inc NY$330,999 Vice President & Secretary $112,450 $118,835 2023
Los Pleneros De La 21 Inc NY$340,822 Executive Director $91,006 $93,414 2024
Orchestrating Dreams Inc NY$344,729 Executive Director $51,500 $52,863 2024
Bronx Conservatory Of Music Inc NY$346,450 Executive Director $20,108 $21,250 2023

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to NY cost of living and 2025 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 NY 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 default33rd
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)33rd
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted33rd
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted33rd

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 (Julie Tay) 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 18 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A68) + NY + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $34,793 is reasonable (approximately the 33rd 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.