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

Opera Steamboat

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 721520777
CO · NTEE A50
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Julie Maykowski, Executive Director / CEO ($82,042) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 90 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 80th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

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

How comparable organizations were selected

90 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 90 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$690 total compensation of comparable organizations → $153,757 $82,042
$14,02310th
$26,74025th
$48,127Median
$70,32075th
$91,86490th
$82,042This org · 80th
p10$14,023
p25$26,740
p50$48,127
p75$70,320
p90$91,864
$82,042

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 CO 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
Avery Copp Museum CT$260,953 Executive Dir. $67,237 $65,746 2024
Maui Historical Society HI$257,562 Executive Di $35,400 $34,030 2023
Nia Centre MI$264,657 Executive Director $70,733 $78,388 2023
Astrodome Conservancy TX$266,400 Executive Director $100,323 $107,749 2023
Coliseum Museum Of Art Antiques And IL$268,238 Executive Di $50,000 $51,264 2024
Western Illinois Museum IL$270,430 Executive Director $39,561 $40,561 2024
Bristol Bay Historical Society Inc AK$251,603 Executive Dir. $66,284 $68,041 2023
The Tyler Rose Museum Inc TX$272,110 Executive Dir. $93,890 $97,947 2024
Rolls-royce Foundation PA$249,192 Executive Di $644 $690 2023
Wisconsin Veterans Museum Foundation WI$248,893 Executive Director $81,350 $88,602 2024
Saint Charles County Veterans Museum MO$274,662 Executive Director $75,000 $82,843 2024
Camden Shipyard Maritime Museum NJ$247,017 Executive Director $32,917 $30,650 2024
Heart & Soul UT$276,697 Executive Di $59,886 $63,920 2024
Classic Car Club Of America Museum Inc MI$277,157 Executive Director $57,917 $62,344 2024
Over-the-rhine Museum OH$240,782 Director Of Museum Administration $47,960 $52,975 2024
Museum Of Art And Digital Entertainment CA$240,306 Fmr Ex Dir $42,031 $37,850 2024
Wornall-majors House Museums Inc MO$240,200 Acting Executive Director $49,780 $56,609 2023
Slave Dwelling Project Inc SC$285,486 President $58,051 $63,158 2024
Cincinnati Fire Museum OH$235,503 Executive Director $78,000 $88,702 2023
Foundation Advancing Creation Truth MT$235,119 President $48,406 $54,417 2024
The Newberry Museum SC$234,063 Museum Executive Director $42,708 $47,838 2023
Hawaii Science And Technology HI$288,167 Executive Director $23,350 $23,366 2022
Rehoboth Beach Historical Society DE$288,552 Executive Director $62,030 $63,342 2024
House Of Miles East St Louis IL$289,128 President & Ceo $7,500 $7,690 2024
Montana Beyond The Classroom MT$289,365 Executive Director $53,699 $60,367 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to CO 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 CO 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 default80th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)87th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted82nd
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 (Julie Maykowski) 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 90 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A50), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $82,042 is reasonable (approximately the 80th 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.