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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Linguistic Society Of America

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 746043371
DC · NTEE A75C
FY ending 2023-09-30
June 13, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Katha Kissman, Executive Director / CEO ($69,000) against the 2000 closest of 2,706 comparable organizations — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 37th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Katha Kissman — reported title “Interim Executive Dir.”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

2,706 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 2,000 within the band form the benchmarked peer set (closest by budget).

Distribution of comparable compensation

$446 total compensation of comparable organizations → $535,017 $69,000
$29,70110th
$55,50825th
$80,916Median
$104,05075th
$129,49290th
$69,000This org · 37th
p10$29,701
p25$55,508
p50$80,916
p75$104,050
p90$129,492
$69,000

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 DC 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
Culture Shock Dance Troupe Inc CA$713,443 Executive Director $66,560 $63,617 2024
Monuments Men And Women Foundation TX$713,559 Pres And Bd Mem $66,637 $73,781 2024
Pure Theatre SC$713,069 Artistic Director $84,093 $97,105 2024
Apex Art Curatorial Program Inc NY$712,957 Pres/exec Dir $1,200 $1,201 2024
Pittsburgh Irish Festival Inc PA$713,776 Executive Dir. $35,000 $38,633 2024
🔒 1995 more comparable organizations — included in the purchased report

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to DC 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 DC 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 default37th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)42nd
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted38th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted34th

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:

Ready-to-adopt board minutes — executive compensation

🔒 The complete minutes language — three numbered resolutions pre-filled with this organization, the 2000-organization comparison, the date, and the percentile finding, ready to paste into your minutes — is included in the purchased report.

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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.