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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Legal Assistance Of Dakota County

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 410996581
MN · NTEE I80
FY ending 2023-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Sharon Jones, Executive Director / CEO ($88,625) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 81 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 70th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

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

How comparable organizations were selected

81 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 81 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$5,808 total compensation of comparable organizations → $399,912 $88,625
$33,22110th
$50,09125th
$70,905Median
$90,57975th
$113,86490th
$88,625This org · 70th
p10$33,221
p25$50,091
p50$70,905
p75$90,579
p90$113,864
$88,625

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 MN 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
Justice For Our Neighbors Of The PA$294,362 Executive Dir. $32,917 $33,221 2023
Benton Franklin Legal Aid Society WA$294,679 Executive Dir. $63,815 $56,162 2024
Community Mediation Dc DC$296,363 Former Executive Director $59,701 $51,498 2024
Columbia Basin Dispute Resolution Center WA$288,772 Executive Dir. $53,000 $48,022 2023
South Lake Tahoe Family Resource Center CA$288,622 Executive Dir. $50,002 $43,696 2023
Wyoming Childrens Law Center WY$298,593 Executive Director And Ex Officio Board Member $113,980 $123,520 2023
Arizona Crime Victim Rights Law Group AZ$301,434 Executive Dir. $78,125 $73,857 2024
Montgomery County Bar Foundation AL$283,016 Executive Director $90,360 $95,960 2024
Columbia Gorge Casa OR$282,100 Executive Dir. $59,267 $54,103 2024
Lex Rex Institute CA$281,879 Ceo And Attorney $471,140 $399,912 2024
Peoples Law Center WI$281,834 Executive Director $138,000 $145,856 2023
Washington Wage Claim Project WA$281,506 Staff Attorney $183,961 $161,901 2024
Connect Immigration CO$306,327 Executive Director $87,000 $82,004 2024
Servicios Legales Comunitarios Inc PR$309,343 Chief Operating Officer $68,151 $66,196 2024
Arizona Justice For Our Neighbors AZ$312,535 Executive Dir. $95,351 $90,142 2024
Student Legal Services Inc NY$312,839 Director $94,906 $82,128 2025
The Joseph Project Inc MI$314,352 President $30,000 $31,338 2023
Equal Citizens Foundation DC$269,229 Treasurer $36,000 $31,054 2024
Frontline Legal Services LA$268,828 Co-executive Director $75,000 $81,181 2024
Emergency Legal Responders LA$317,714 Executive Director $80,125 $89,290 2023
Allegany Law Foundation Inc MD$268,405 Executive Director $57,073 $54,000 2023
Wyoming County - Attica Legal Aid NY$267,246 Vice Preside $31,756 $27,481 2025
El Centro Hispanoamericano NJ$264,706 Executive Director $49,660 $43,584 2024
Oregon Health Justice Center OR$263,336 Attorney/partner $105,769 $96,553 2024
Phoenix Legal Action Network AZ$261,916 Executive Director $81,222 $79,053 2023

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to MN 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 MN 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 default70th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)69th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted75th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted69th

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 (Sharon Jones) 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 81 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (I80), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $88,625 is reasonable (approximately the 70th 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.