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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

What If Foundation

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 912121669
CA · NTEE P20
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Adam Michael Royston Thru 124, Executive Director / CEO ($3,769) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 95 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 2nd percentile of comparable organizationsbelow the typical range for comparable organizations

Benchmarked executive: Adam Michael Royston Thru 124 — 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

95 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 95 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$1 total compensation of comparable organizations → $261,703 $3,769
$18,56310th
$44,42325th
$89,763Median
$115,56375th
$157,23790th
$3,769This org · 2nd
p10$18,563
p25$44,423
p50$89,763
p75$115,563
p90$157,237
$3,769

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 Opportunity Institute CA$775,795 President/ceo $208,331 $208,331 2024
Jewish Center For Justice CA$770,105 President & Ceo $113,801 $117,162 2023
Ems Inc CA$803,080 Ceo/executive Director $90,637 $90,637 2024
Siloam Center CA$766,972 President $69,853 $69,853 2024
Multi-agency Support Services CA$808,997 Executive Director $85,466 $87,990 2023
🔒 90 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 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 default2nd
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)2nd
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted5th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted2nd

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 95-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 9, 2026.