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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

East-central Court Appointed Specia

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 330998847
SD · NTEE I70
FY ending 2023-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Julie Wermers, Executive Director / CEO ($60,022) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 32 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 56th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Julie Wermers — reported title “EXECUTIVE DI”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

32 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 32 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$4,834 total compensation of comparable organizations → $165,328 $60,022
$21,04410th
$36,03725th
$56,605Median
$70,88175th
$88,87190th
$60,022This org · 56th
p10$21,044
p25$36,037
p50$56,605
p75$70,881
p90$88,871
$60,022

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 SD 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
Casa Of East Central Wisconsin WI$305,316 Director $76,951 $70,729 2024
Stories Foundation MN$293,668 Executive Director $52,000 $46,557 2023
Casa Of West Central Illinois IL$290,129 Executive Director $61,849 $52,135 2025
Northern California Tribal Court Coalition CA$309,849 Executive Director $77,069 $58,570 2024
Court Appointed Special Advocates AL$283,833 Executive Director $54,298 $51,627 2024
Soap Project OH$320,738 Executive Director & Found $24,000 $22,371 2024
Goochland-powhatan Casa VA$274,505 Executive Director $66,000 $54,639 2025
Time Of Change CA$269,415 Directorpresident $30,000 $22,211 2025
Ceces Hope Center AZ$267,116 Pres/ceo $24,000 $20,914 2023
The Ace Fiduciary Group A Non-profit CA$265,875 Executive Director & Corporate Secretary $59,265 $45,040 2024
In Our Backyard OR$343,058 Executive Dir. $84,400 $68,981 2024
Tennessee Voices For Victims TN$350,346 Secretary Co Founder $74,900 $71,337 2023
Tyrrell-washington Partnership For Children Inc NC$353,668 Executive Director $74,595 $69,839 2023
Pedal The Pacific TX$244,736 Director $65,000 $58,915 2023
Can Council Great Lakes Bay Region MI$241,557 President/ce $5,169 $4,834 2023
Rock The Walls Foundation Inc FL$238,222 Executive Director $86,750 $73,842 2023
Rutland County Child First VT$233,936 Executive Di $50,346 $44,599 2024
Restoring Ancestral Winds Inc UT$366,868 Executive Dir. $100,875 $93,548 2023
The Childrens Advocacy Center Of Cleveland County NC$232,013 Executive Director $68,289 $60,500 2025
Alliance For Freedom Restoration And TN$392,338 Cfo $11,000 $10,176 2024
Rescuing Hope Inc GA$393,714 Executive Dir. $41,650 $36,857 2024
Megan Montgomery Foundation To Prevent Domestic Violence Inc AL$395,455 Executive Director $24,846 $24,321 2023
Stomp Out Bullying Corp NY$400,373 Ceo $207,885 $165,328 2024
Casa Of The 5th Judicial Dist Inc AR$401,517 Executive Director $65,605 $63,228 2025
Childrens Alliance Of Montana MT$402,905 Executive Dir. $93,736 $88,927 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to SD 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 SD 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 default56th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)44th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted59th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted53rd

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 (Julie Wermers) 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 32 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (I70), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $60,022 is reasonable (approximately the 56th 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.