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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Buffalo & Erie County Workforce

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 161585625
NY · NTEE J20
FY ending 2023-06-30
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Lavon Stephens, Executive Director / CEO ($108,822) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 55 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 16th percentile of comparable organizationsbelow the typical range for comparable organizations

Benchmarked executive: Lavon Stephens — reported title “ADMINISTRATIVE 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

55 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 55 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$11,275 total compensation of comparable organizations → $404,777 $108,822
$87,96410th
$134,05525th
$175,245Median
$212,06375th
$268,86290th
$108,822This org · 16th
p10$87,964
p25$134,055
p50$175,245
p75$212,063
p90$268,862
$108,822

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
Employment Horizons Inc NJ$10,000,078 Chief Exective Officer $181,889 $179,718 2023
Anne Arundel Workforce Development MD$9,919,399 Ceo $207,686 $208,711 2024
Southeast Minnesota Private Industry MN$9,904,994 Executive Director $176,839 $187,825 2024
Rotary Camps & Services Of Traverse City MI$10,158,462 Executive Director $169,907 $183,649 2025
Arriba Juntos CA$10,212,547 Executive Dir. $294,648 $281,564 2023
🔒 50 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 2023 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 default16th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)15th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted15th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted7th

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 55-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.