Live preview — download the board-ready PDF to attach to your minutes.Download the free PDF
Email yourself a copy:
PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Open Water Foundation

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 462676240
CO · NTEE C19
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Steve Malers, Executive Director / CEO ($28,000) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 33 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: Steve Malers — reported title “CEO”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

33 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 33 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$167 total compensation of comparable organizations → $81,851 $28,000
$2,46810th
$6,53525th
$20,421Median
$32,77575th
$47,98890th
$28,000This org · 70th
p10$2,468
p25$6,535
p50$20,421
p75$32,775
p90$47,988
$28,000

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 CO 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
Sportsmens Club Sauk Rapids Inc MN$48,583 President $599 $617 2024
Recycling Rules Inc MA$48,970 Founder And Executive Director $22,000 $21,227 2023
Keep Rowlett Beautiful Inc TX$39,949 Exec. Director $17,325 $18,074 2024
Partnership For Environmental Progress CA$53,220 Executive Dir. $66,000 $61,190 2023
Warsaw Biblical Gardens Inc IN$54,425 Board Member $6,200 $6,819 2024
Ccl Farm Conservation Inc SC$36,128 Director $9,663 $10,513 2024
Benison Resource Co GA$35,843 Chairman, Ceo $4,500 $4,858 2023
The Nuclear Decommissioning MA$35,802 President/director $61,845 $57,958 2024
The Sunflower Land Trust Inc KS$55,628 Chief Exec. Officer $32,500 $36,617 2024
School Of Living PA$56,215 Assistant Treasurer $2,138 $2,224 2024
Mcgill Rose Garden SC$56,585 Sr Garden Di $23,500 $25,568 2024
Magellan Foundation Inc NY$56,783 President - $7,030 $6,454 2025
Mead Spl Site Custodial Trust WA$34,466 Trustee $27,826 $26,749 2023
Save Honolua Coalition HI$34,393 Vice Preside $4,191 $3,913 2024
Outdoor Intervention Inc IN$57,041 President $39,803 $43,775 2024
Energy Services Coalition Corp VA$34,236 Exec Director $42,738 $43,035 2024
One For Nature Inc PA$34,147 Director $15,000 $16,061 2023
Indian Creek Nature Center Charitable IA$34,071 Executive Director $5,723 $6,535 2024
Borneo Research Council ME$57,273 Treasurer $18,994 $20,421 2023
Bristol Virginia Public Schools Education Foundation VA$57,923 Executive Director $28,554 $29,601 2023
Worldopt Institute Inc HI$58,166 Secretary $13,221 $12,344 2024
Friends Of Merrymeeting Bay ME$58,443 Database Manager $155 $167 2023
Save Cape Lookout Foundation Inc NC$32,842 Director $12,000 $13,312 2023
350org Action Fund MA$58,516 Executive Director $34,973 $32,775 2024
Islands First Inc NY$58,985 Executive Director $50,317 $48,818 2023

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to CO 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 CO 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)70th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted73rd
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted58th

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 (Steve Malers) 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 33 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE major group (C), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $28,000 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.