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

Missoula Writing Collaborative

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 810505084
MT · NTEE A70
FY ending 2024-06-30
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Caroline Patterson Haefele, Executive Director / CEO ($34,808) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 45 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 31st percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Caroline Patterson Haefele — reported title “Prev Exec. Dir.”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

45 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 45 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$248 total compensation of comparable organizations → $113,812 $34,808
$8,85610th
$30,25025th
$50,024Median
$64,87275th
$81,74690th
$34,808This org · 31st
p10$8,856
p25$30,250
p50$50,024
p75$64,872
p90$81,746
$34,808

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 MT 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
Living Tongues Institute OR$310,319 President $42,000 $37,253 2023
Arborlea Study Center TX$308,165 Treasurer $27,752 $26,514 2023
Association Of Bookmobile & IA$307,645 Executive Director $46,519 $47,252 2024
Christian Womens Job Corps Of Tyler Inc TX$305,892 Executive Dir. $71,340 $66,202 2024
The Aftermath Project Inc CA$303,880 Secretary $51,000 $42,061 2023
Archaeology In The Community DC$316,182 Executive Director $54,049 $45,299 2023
The Center For Khmer Studies Inc DC$317,166 President & Ceo $50,000 $41,906 2023
Helping Link WA$302,762 Executive Director $125,517 $104,251 2024
Oregon Hope Chinese School OR$329,095 President $73,140 $64,872 2023
Atlanta Writers Club GA$289,485 Executive Director $31,500 $30,250 2023
Western Political Science Association OR$288,787 Executive Dir. $7,000 $6,031 2024
Faulkner Morgan Archive KY$288,069 President & Executive Director $52,771 $54,150 2023
The 1947 Partition Archive CA$333,750 Executive Dir. $62,000 $51,133 2023
American Comparative Literature IL$285,428 Chief Admin Off $85,586 $80,363 2023
Experience Excellence TX$334,637 President $60,000 $55,679 2024
Lama Foundation NM$280,456 Director $1,008 $1,036 2023
Christian Home Educators Assn Of Calif CA$278,232 Treasurer $300 $248 2023
Henryk Sienkiewicz Polish School Nfp IL$342,361 Prezes $7,392 $6,742 2024
Project Sycamore A Nfp Corporation TX$273,382 Executive Director $84,000 $80,253 2023
Marine Mills Folk School MN$272,489 Pt Exec Dire $23,336 $22,023 2023
Split This Rock Inc DC$267,649 Director $64,281 $53,876 2023
Henry Miller Memorial Library CA$355,492 Executive Dir. $107,666 $88,795 2023
Pulaski County Imagination Library AR$361,644 Interim Executive Director $33,889 $35,339 2024
La Casa De Maria Retreat Center CA$364,900 Executive Director $92,250 $73,898 2024
Roaring Fork Center For Community CO$249,768 Executive Director $52,772 $46,943 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to MT 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 MT 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 default31st
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)29th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted31st
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted29th

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 (Caroline Patterson Haefele) 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 45 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A70), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $34,808 is reasonable (approximately the 31st 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.