Live preview — download the board-ready PDF to attach to your minutes.Download PDF — $49
PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Big Shoulders Fund

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 363490557
IL · NTEE B122
FY ending 2024-06-30
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Joshua Hale, Executive Director / CEO ($614,112) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 370 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 78th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Joshua Hale — reported title “President and Chief Executive Officer”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

370 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 370 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$12,296 total compensation of comparable organizations → $5,433,917 $614,112
$157,83010th
$250,05325th
$401,519Median
$574,54475th
$829,62490th
$614,112This org · 78th
p10$157,830
p25$250,053
p50$401,519
p75$574,544
p90$829,624
$614,112

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 IL 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
Accreditation Council For Graduate IL$84,664,523 President And Chief Executive Officer $1,788,695 $1,841,528 2023
Nebraska Wesleyan University NE$84,892,553 President $399,370 $436,921 2024
Taipei American School Foundation CA$84,893,511 Ms Principal $259,996 $228,362 2024
Goucher College MD$84,585,565 President $586,238 $573,957 2023
Corporation For Education CA$84,545,122 President/ceo $755,997 $683,628 2023
🔒 365 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 IL 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 IL 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 default78th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)77th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted80th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted74th

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 370-organization comparison, the date, and the percentile finding, ready to paste into your minutes — is included in the purchased report.

Unlock the board report — $49

Running reports for this organization all year? Annual Org Pass — $99/yr.

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.