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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Benton Franklin Legal Aid Society

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 141843628
WA · NTEE I80
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Barbara Potter, Executive Director / CEO ($63,815) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 81 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 36th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Barbara Potter — reported title “Executive Dir.”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

81 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 81 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$6,600 total compensation of comparable organizations → $454,403 $63,815
$37,74710th
$56,91725th
$81,079Median
$102,92275th
$129,37990th
$63,815This org · 36th
p10$37,747
p25$56,917
p50$81,079
p75$102,922
p90$129,379
$63,815

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 WA 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
Justice For Our Neighbors Of The PA$294,362 Executive Dir. $32,917 $37,747 2023
Legal Assistance Of Dakota County MN$293,191 Executive Di $88,625 $100,701 2023
Community Mediation Dc DC$296,363 Former Executive Director $59,701 $58,516 2024
Wyoming Childrens Law Center WY$298,593 Executive Director And Ex Officio Board Member $113,980 $140,351 2023
Columbia Basin Dispute Resolution Center WA$288,772 Executive Dir. $53,000 $54,565 2023
South Lake Tahoe Family Resource Center CA$288,622 Executive Dir. $50,002 $49,650 2023
Arizona Crime Victim Rights Law Group AZ$301,434 Executive Dir. $78,125 $83,921 2024
Connect Immigration CO$306,327 Executive Director $87,000 $93,178 2024
Montgomery County Bar Foundation AL$283,016 Executive Director $90,360 $109,034 2024
Columbia Gorge Casa OR$282,100 Executive Dir. $59,267 $61,475 2024
Lex Rex Institute CA$281,879 Ceo And Attorney $471,140 $454,403 2024
Peoples Law Center WI$281,834 Executive Director $138,000 $165,730 2023
Washington Wage Claim Project WA$281,506 Staff Attorney $183,961 $183,961 2024
Servicios Legales Comunitarios Inc PR$309,343 Chief Operating Officer $68,151 $68,151 2024
Arizona Justice For Our Neighbors AZ$312,535 Executive Dir. $95,351 $102,425 2024
Student Legal Services Inc NY$312,839 Director $94,906 $93,319 2025
The Joseph Project Inc MI$314,352 President $30,000 $35,607 2023
Emergency Legal Responders LA$317,714 Executive Director $80,125 $101,457 2023
Equal Citizens Foundation DC$269,229 Treasurer $36,000 $35,285 2024
Frontline Legal Services LA$268,828 Co-executive Director $75,000 $92,242 2024
Allegany Law Foundation Inc MD$268,405 Executive Director $57,073 $61,358 2023
Wyoming County - Attica Legal Aid NY$267,246 Vice Preside $31,756 $31,225 2025
El Centro Hispanoamericano NJ$264,706 Executive Director $49,660 $49,523 2024
Oregon Health Justice Center OR$263,336 Attorney/partner $105,769 $109,709 2024
Trinity Legal Clinic Of Oklahoma OK$326,987 Executive Dir. $56,347 $69,301 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to WA 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 WA 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 default36th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)40th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted36th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted35th

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:

Draft board minutes — executive compensation

  1. The compensation of the Executive Director / CEO (Barbara Potter) was approved in advance by [the Board / Compensation Committee], composed of members with no conflict of interest with respect to the arrangement.
  2. Prior to its determination, the authorized body obtained and relied upon appropriate comparability data, namely the PeerBasis Compensation Comparability Determination dated June 9, 2026, comparing compensation against 81 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (I80), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $63,815 is reasonable (approximately the 36th percentile of comparable organizations) and documented the basis for this determination concurrently, on [date], by a vote of [__ for / __ against].

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.