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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Casey Trees

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 311766444
DC · NTEE C125
FY ending 2025-06-30
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Mark Buscaino, Executive Director / CEO ($267,328) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 159 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 69th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

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

How comparable organizations were selected

159 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 159 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$15,095 total compensation of comparable organizations → $947,796 $267,328
$110,06210th
$162,07925th
$220,721Median
$291,86375th
$356,99690th
$267,328This org · 69th
p10$110,062
p25$162,079
p50$220,721
p75$291,863
p90$356,996
$267,328

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 DC 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
Wrld Foundation DE$10,991,199 Coo (Began Feb. 2024) $64,615 $74,006 2024
Great Peninsula Conservancy WA$10,980,530 Executive Director $129,720 $135,849 2024
Sempervirens Fund CA$10,963,707 Executive Director $301,941 $304,976 2024
Nova Scotia Nature Trust $11,046,560 Executive Director $119,131 $122,283 2024
Environmental Law And Policy Center Of IL$10,923,738 President & Executive Director $602,863 $713,749 2023
🔒 154 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 DC cost of living and 2025 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 DC 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 default69th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)75th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted35th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted67th

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 159-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.