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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Center For Social Sustainable

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 453163638
NM · NTEE C02
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Jorge Garcia, Executive Director / CEO ($18,133) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 792 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 8th percentile of comparable organizationsbelow the typical range for comparable organizations

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

How comparable organizations were selected

792 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 792 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$283 total compensation of comparable organizations → $805,750 $18,133
$21,02010th
$44,16825th
$66,411Median
$86,91875th
$108,33190th
$18,133This org · 8th
p10$21,020
p25$44,168
p50$66,411
p75$86,918
p90$108,331
$18,133

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 NM 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
Taos Land Trust NM$422,542 Executive Di $77,377 $79,663 2023
Public Land Solutions UT$422,713 Managing Dir $105,744 $100,624 2024
Doan Brook Watershed Partnership OH$422,092 Executive Di $51,606 $50,819 2024
Boulder Climbing Community CO$421,952 Executive Dir. $93,500 $83,357 2024
Missouri Energy Initiative MO$421,763 Executive Di $122,100 $120,238 2024
Agricultural-natural Resources Trust CA$421,733 Executive Dir. $90,405 $74,725 2023
Ecologik Institute CA$421,600 President $18,270 $14,668 2024
Brooklyn Greenway Initiative NY$421,517 Executive Director $145,144 $125,544 2023
Electrification Coalition Alliance Inc DC$421,500 Executive Director $38,801 $31,657 2024
Wachiska Audubon Society Inc NE$421,211 Executive Di $70,404 $70,404 2024
East Hampton Village Foundation NY$421,191 President & Ceo $150,000 $129,745 2023
Grow It Green Morristown Inc NJ$423,915 Executive Director $56,813 $48,555 2023
Cloud City Conservation Center CO$424,000 Executive Di $77,650 $71,272 2023
River Rangers International Inc OH$420,310 President/ce $75,000 $73,856 2024
Friends Of The Welty Environmental Center Inc WI$424,763 Executive Director $41,050 $41,037 2023
Climate Justice Hive CO$424,930 President $20,250 $18,053 2024
Green Cities Accord MN$425,247 Director Of Programs And Operations $114,105 $104,828 2024
Cacapon And Lost Rivers Land Tr Inc WV$419,733 Executive Director $83,100 $83,655 2024
Save The River Inc NY$419,357 Exec. Direc. $47,807 $40,165 2024
Downtown Association Of Fairbanks AK$425,634 Executive Director $66,548 $60,901 2023
Ohio River Foundation OH$425,997 Executive Director $135,609 $133,541 2024
Partnership For The National Trails DC$418,939 Executive Director $105,380 $85,978 2024
Coastal Georgia Indicators GA$418,865 Executive Di $113,191 $105,817 2024
Urban Water Institute Inc CA$418,696 Executive Dir. $48,430 $38,882 2024
John T Waterhouse Te Co-tr Tropical HI$418,653 Co-trustee $29,184 $25,011 2023

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to NM 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 NM 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 default8th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)8th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted12th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted7th

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 (Jorge Garcia) 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 792 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE major group (C), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $18,133 is reasonable (approximately the 8th 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.