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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Environmental Defender Law Center

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 270772454
WA · NTEE I83
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Fernanda Venzon, Executive Director / CEO ($124,975) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 575 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 83rd percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Fernanda Venzon — reported title “Exec Director (from March 24)”, selected as the organization's highest-paid individual — no exact title match, so confirm this is a comparable role.

How comparable organizations were selected

575 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 575 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$241 total compensation of comparable organizations → $437,754 $124,975
$39,07110th
$63,28925th
$87,827Median
$113,18375th
$145,35390th
$124,975This org · 83rd
p10$39,071
p25$63,289
p50$87,827
p75$113,183
p90$145,353
$124,975

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
31-8 Project ND$508,696 Executive Director $67,800 $83,105 2024
Dupage County Area Project Inc IL$508,763 Executive Director $79,982 $87,827 2024
Indian Legal Assistance Program MN$508,568 Executive Di $105,043 $112,943 2025
Student Legal Services NC$507,722 Director $174,472 $201,357 2024
Childrenz Haven TX$509,939 Executive Di $66,200 $73,964 2024
🔒 570 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 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 default83rd
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)88th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted84th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted79th

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 575-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.