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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Harris County Cultural Arts Council

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 833666691
TX · NTEE A20
FY ending 2023-12-31
June 10, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Michelle Bonton, Executive Director / CEO ($75,000) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 241 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 59th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Michelle Bonton — reported title “DIRECTOR”, selected as the organization's highest-paid individual — no exact title match, so confirm this is a comparable role.

How comparable organizations were selected

241 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 241 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$126 total compensation of comparable organizations → $312,985 $75,000
$17,26510th
$43,88025th
$67,104Median
$88,04075th
$115,00290th
$75,000This org · 59th
p10$17,265
p25$43,880
p50$67,104
p75$88,040
p90$115,002
$75,000

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 TX 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
Monuments Men And Women Foundation TX$713,559 Pres And Bd Mem $66,637 $64,725 2024
Nautilusthink Inc NY$712,505 President/treasurer $213,258 $192,646 2023
Front Exhibition Company OH$721,598 Deputy Director $174,038 $184,276 2023
Americans For Medical Progress DC$710,349 Exe. Dir. And Interim Sec. As Of Oct. $164,240 $139,947 2024
While We Are Still Here Incorporated NY$725,667 Executive Dir. $28,900 $26,107 2023
🔒 236 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 TX 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 TX 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 default59th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)55th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted60th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted56th

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 241-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 10, 2026.