Company: DLX
Filing Date: 2025-03-10
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0000027996-25-000107
Chunk: 32

Company: DELUXE CORP
Filing Date: 2025-03-10
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 32
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 driven trusted Payments and Data company. This transformation affected not only the products and services we offer to our customers, but also the culture and makeup of the entire organization. Consistent with our execution on this strategy, and to ensure we have the right leaders in place to realize our vision, the Peer Group includes a number of data and payments companies, in addition to those that are similar to our print businesses. Due to the complexity of our business portfolio, we do not believe it is appropriate to set a peer group focused only on our legacy business while ignoring our growth segments and long-term strategy. Importantly, during our 2024 shareholder engagement efforts, we met with investors holding 42% of our outstanding shares, none of which expressed concern with our selection process or our Peer Group.

#### Other Considerations
The Committee also considers each executive’s general level of performance, demonstrated success in meeting or exceeding business objectives and creating shareholder value, job market conditions, importance to our business, succession planning considerations, salary budget guidelines, and the executive’s pay in the context of other employees when setting target compensation. As such, for all components of an executive’s pay, deviations from the median can be the result of experience in the position, individual performance, or the individual's scope of responsibilities.

### Use of "Tally Sheets" and Wealth Accumulation Analysis
The Committee and FW Cook annually review "tally sheets" that quantify the total compensation package of each NEO, the impact of stock price changes on the value of existing long-term equity incentives, the wealth created from prior equity grants and amounts payable upon hypothetical employment change events. These summaries allow the Committee to assess the cumulative impact of its past compensation decisions.

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#### Base Salary
Base salaries of our executive officers generally are set within the competitive market range of salaries paid to executive officers of companies of similar size and in similar positions. Competitive market range is based on data gathered from the compensation surveys and the Peer Group data referenced above, and after consideration for internal pay equity. Base salaries are the foundation for the performance-driven programs discussed below, as well as our retirement program, in that target awards and contributions under these programs are typically set as a percentage of base salary. Base salaries earned in 2024 for each of the NEOs are shown in the SCT on page 41, and the following table shows a comparison of the annual base salary for each NEO approved by the Committee during 2023 and 2024:

| Name                 |     |        2023