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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

The Center For Contemporary Arts

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 850313183
NM · NTEE A20
FY ending 2021-10-31
June 13, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of April Chalay, Executive Director / CEO ($71,339) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 215 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 58th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

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

How comparable organizations were selected

215 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 215 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$104 total compensation of comparable organizations → $258,894 $71,339
$21,70510th
$48,50525th
$65,169Median
$87,59275th
$113,85690th
$71,339This org · 58th
p10$21,705
p25$48,505
p50$65,169
p75$87,592
p90$113,856
$71,339

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 NM 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
Creative Arts Guild Incorporated GA$923,171 Executive Director $75,000 $60,570 2024
Downtown Winston-salem Community Cinema NC$919,467 Executive Director Through Sept 2024 $86,523 $71,807 2024
Decorative Arts Center Of Ohio OH$919,402 Executive Di $68,677 $58,424 2024
Warnors Center For The Performing Arts CA$929,973 President $33,231 $23,048 2024
Art Share Los Angeles CA$915,327 Executive Director $54,060 $37,494 2024
🔒 210 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 NM cost of living and 2021 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 NM 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 default58th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)35th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted53rd
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 215-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.