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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Ether Sea Projects Inc Dba Litmus Press

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 201637770
NY · NTEE A70
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of E Tracy Grinnell, Executive Director / CEO ($22,000) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 40 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 25th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

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

How comparable organizations were selected

40 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 40 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$295 total compensation of comparable organizations → $124,361 $22,000
$5,25710th
$23,54825th
$47,215Median
$66,77475th
$91,32290th
$22,000This org · 25th
p10$5,257
p25$23,548
p50$47,215
p75$66,774
p90$91,322
$22,000

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
Zbigniew Herbert Polish Supplementary School Of Li Inc NY$244,930 Principal/ceo $17,460 $17,010 2025
Small Press Traffic Literary Arts Center CA$240,398 Executive Dir. $78,000 $72,615 2025
Northmont Fellowship Association PA$238,368 President $13,000 $14,347 2024
Family Cornerstones Inc TN$237,771 Exec. Director $51,300 $59,674 2024
Roaring Fork Center For Community CO$249,768 Executive Director $52,772 $55,999 2024
The Common Acre WA$232,865 Executive Dir. $66,500 $67,834 2023
Acton Chinese Language School MA$227,508 Principle $5,434 $5,265 2025
Split This Rock Inc DC$267,649 Director $64,281 $64,269 2023
Marine Mills Folk School MN$272,489 Pt Exec Dire $23,336 $26,271 2023
Project Sycamore A Nfp Corporation TX$273,382 Executive Director $84,000 $95,734 2023
Christian Home Educators Assn Of Calif CA$278,232 Treasurer $300 $295 2023
Lama Foundation NM$280,456 Director $1,008 $1,235 2023
African Immigrant Family Services Inc NE$204,188 Executive Director $30,600 $36,422 2024
The Association For The Study Of NY$203,179 Executive Dir. $19,500 $18,997 2025
American Comparative Literature IL$285,428 Chief Admin Off $85,586 $95,865 2023
Faulkner Morgan Archive KY$288,069 President & Executive Director $52,771 $64,596 2023
Boulder School For German Language And Culture CO$198,752 President $27,093 $29,598 2023
Western Political Science Association OR$288,787 Executive Dir. $7,000 $7,194 2024
Atlanta Writers Club GA$289,485 Executive Director $31,500 $36,086 2023
Spokane Language House WA$185,944 Board Pres/e $3,250 $3,220 2024
Helping Link WA$302,762 Executive Director $125,517 $124,361 2024
The Aftermath Project Inc CA$303,880 Secretary $51,000 $50,174 2023
Lex America Inc MA$182,807 Executive Director $91,339 $90,832 2024
Christian Womens Job Corps Of Tyler Inc TX$305,892 Executive Dir. $71,340 $78,973 2024
Association Of Bookmobile & IA$307,645 Executive Director $46,519 $56,368 2024

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 default25th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)25th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted28th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted23rd

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 (E Tracy Grinnell) 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 40 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (A70), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $22,000 is reasonable (approximately the 25th 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.