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

Ventura Music Festival Association

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 770314562
CA · NTEE T99Z
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Lale Welsh, Executive Director / CEO ($115,000) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 34 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 88th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

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

How comparable organizations were selected

34 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 34 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$598 total compensation of comparable organizations → $231,927 $115,000
$9,15510th
$28,83425th
$57,529Median
$91,43375th
$114,52790th
$115,000This org · 88th
p10$9,155
p25$28,834
p50$57,529
p75$91,433
p90$114,527
$115,000

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
The Central Benefits OH$424,274 Secretary $105,945 $133,788 2023
World Stewardship Institute CA$419,063 President $48,960 $48,960 2024
Ivan & Caroline Wilson Memorial IA$417,707 Trustee $15,000 $19,582 2023
Olde Towne Theatre Co Inc SD$433,343 Executive Di $27,209 $35,803 2023
Friends Of The School Of The Arts Fnd CA$438,471 Treasurer $5,000 $4,871 2025
Ymca Foundation Of Mid-america KS$405,761 Chief Executive Officer $37,063 $46,370 2024
One Equal Heart Foundation WA$402,021 Executive Director $102,175 $109,068 2023
Henrik Lundqvist Foundation Inc NJ$400,275 Executive Dir. $50,000 $51,699 2024
The Viaquest Foundation OH$397,274 Executive Director $72,853 $92,000 2023
The Potters Hands Foundation Inc NY$450,977 Executive Directorboard Chair $85,748 $89,733 2024
Kansas Financial Empowerment Foundation KS$458,087 President $478 $598 2024
Love's Arm Outreach Ministries Inc TN$469,493 Executive Di $55,050 $67,012 2024
Burning Ones Inc FL$369,303 President $47,500 $51,676 2024
Overly's Country Christmas Inc PA$368,962 Executive Director $22,625 $26,900 2023
Equal Access To Justice Inc NM$362,280 Executive Director $79,435 $96,391 2025
The Waterhouse Charitable Trust HI$350,901 Co-trustee $109,480 $116,866 2023
San Diego Council On Literacy CA$513,155 Ceo $86,544 $86,544 2024
Mo Assn Of Rural Education MO$515,810 Exec Director $59,770 $71,422 2025
Africa Network Evangelism Task TX$327,442 Ceo & Chairman $119,400 $142,403 2023
Finao WI$314,091 President $14,400 $17,930 2023
Rocky Mountain Fisher House Foundation CO$535,727 Executive Dir. $52,000 $57,744 2024
Friends Of Michlalah Yerushalayim Inc NY$311,382 President $3,600 $3,767 2024
Clothes Helping Kids Inc NM$540,148 Executive Di $15,000 $18,202 2025
Engineers Charitable Trust NY$304,582 Executive Director $94,257 $98,637 2024
All For Him Ministry Inc TN$304,184 President $22,471 $28,162 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 default88th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)94th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted94th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted71st

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 (Lale Welsh) 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 34 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (T99), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $115,000 is reasonable (approximately the 88th 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.