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

The Participatory Budgeting Project Inc

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 453858268
NY · NTEE W02
FY ending 2023-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Shari Davis, Executive Director / CEO ($98,119) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 179 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 16th percentile of comparable organizationsbelow the typical range for comparable organizations

Benchmarked executive: Shari Davis — reported title “CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

179 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 179 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$1,172 total compensation of comparable organizations → $871,229 $98,119
$55,36310th
$132,98425th
$198,100Median
$264,39375th
$340,66390th
$98,119This org · 16th
p10$55,363
p25$132,984
p50$198,100
p75$264,393
p90$340,663
$98,119

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 NY 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
Harvester Financial Credit Union IN$4,790,228 President & Ceo $152,232 $172,561 2024
Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program DC$4,828,079 Executive Director $221,375 $214,981 2023
League Of Oregon Cities OR$4,836,187 Executive Dir. $218,738 $224,797 2023
Western Maryland Scenic Railroad Development Corporation MD$4,737,982 Executive Dir $99,036 $99,525 2024
Minnesota Rural Water Association MN$4,850,312 Executive Director $136,182 $144,642 2024
🔒 174 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 NY 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 NY 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 default16th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)18th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted18th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted9th

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 179-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.