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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Legal Assistance Of Western New York Inc

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 160955954
NY · NTEE I80
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Lori O'brien, Executive Director / CEO ($164,797) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 34 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 3rd percentile of comparable organizationsbelow the typical range for comparable organizations

Benchmarked executive: Lori O'brien — reported title “EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

34 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 34 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$149,108 total compensation of comparable organizations → $551,496 $164,797
$169,43510th
$199,95025th
$240,220Median
$283,29175th
$379,00590th
$164,797This org · 3rd
p10$169,435
p25$199,950
p50$240,220
p75$283,291
p90$379,005
$164,797

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 NY 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
National Consumer Law Center Inc MA$21,563,869 Executive Director $327,425 $325,609 2024
Inner City Law Center CA$21,852,761 Chief Executive Officer $425,127 $406,249 2024
New York County Defender Services Inc NY$22,376,163 Executive Director $349,865 $360,199 2023
The Legal Aid Bureau Of Buffalo NY$20,751,603 Board Member (Labb Ceo) $287,425 $287,425 2024
Immigrant Justice Corps Inc NY$22,682,803 Chief Executive Officer $387,065 $387,065 2024
🔒 29 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 NY 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 NY 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 default3rd
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)15th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted6th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted3rd

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 34-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.