Methodology

By Lucido · Last updated July 1, 2026

This page describes how Lucido builds its nonprofit compensation figures.

Data source

Lucido uses Form 990 returns that the IRS publishes as e-file data.
The IRS publishes this data in monthly releases.
Lucido loads IRS releases published from January 2024 onward.
Lucido loads Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF returns.
Returns filed on paper are not included, because the IRS does not publish them as e-file data.
Organizations that file Form 990-N do not report compensation, so they are not included in compensation figures.
Returns without an organization name, EIN, tax year, or address are not loaded.

Each return is recorded under its tax year, as stated on the return.
Lucido covers tax years 2019 through 2024.
Benchmarks for tax years 2019 through 2022 are free.
Benchmarks for tax years 2023-2024 require Lucido Pro.
Individual compensation records from every year are visible without an account.
Nonprofits file returns months after their tax year ends, so recent tax years contain fewer returns than earlier ones.
Returns for tax years before 2023 are included only when they appear in the releases Lucido loads.

On Form 990, compensation is reportable compensation from the organization plus other compensation from the organization, from Part VII, Section A.
Compensation from related organizations is not included in the total.
On Form 990-EZ, compensation is the amount in the compensation column of the officer list.
On Form 990-PF, compensation is compensation plus contributions to employee benefit plans plus expense account and other allowances, from the officer list.
Schedule J, when filed, provides the split into base, bonus, other, deferred, and nontaxable benefits.
Schedule J does not change the total.
Blank amounts are counted as zero.
Amounts are shown as filed.

Lucido keeps each title as filed.
Lucido also assigns each title to a standard role by matching the words in the title.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer are the same role.
When a title is ambiguous, Lucido uses the officer and trustee boxes checked on the return.

Records with compensation of $100 or less are excluded from search results and benchmarks.
Organizations with revenue of $100 or less are excluded from search results and benchmarks.
Institutional trustees, such as banks and trust companies, are excluded from search results and benchmarks.
Records without a person's name are not loaded.

Lucido keeps one return per organization per tax year.
When a later IRS release contains another return for the same organization and tax year, the later return replaces the earlier one.
An amended return replaces the original only when it appears in a later release.

Each benchmark counts each organization once.
For each organization, Lucido uses its most recent tax year in the group and its highest-paid person in the role.
Percentiles are computed by linear interpolation between the nearest values and rounded to whole dollars.
The median is the 50th percentile.
Sample size is the number of organizations.
The compensation report shows a row only when it has at least 50 organizations.
Budget size is the organization's total revenue as reported on its return.
State is the state in the organization's address on its return.
Benchmarks are recomputed after each monthly data load.

Sectors come from NTEE codes in the IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File.
A sector is the major group, the first letter of the NTEE code.
Lucido refreshes NTEE codes every quarter.
Private foundations without an NTEE code are classified as Philanthropy, Voluntarism and Grantmaking (T).
Organizations without an NTEE code are not included in sector benchmarks.

The compensation report shows each percentile as filed and adjusted for inflation.
The adjustment uses the national Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), all items, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The factor is the latest monthly index divided by the annual average for the report's latest tax year.
Organization pages use the metro or regional index for the organization's ZIP code when one exists, and the national index otherwise.
Search results are not adjusted for inflation.
Stored amounts are never changed by the adjustment.

Lucido loads each new IRS release after it is published.
The "Last updated" date on this page is the date the latest release finished loading.
The compensation report refreshes daily.