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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Dekalb County Community Gardens

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 463681206
IL · NTEE S20
FY ending 2023-12-31
June 10, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Heather Edwards, Executive Director / CEO ($61,122) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 237 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 19th percentile of comparable organizationsbelow the typical range for comparable organizations

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

How comparable organizations were selected

237 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 237 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$1,533 total compensation of comparable organizations → $417,528 $61,122
$37,38610th
$68,93625th
$95,225Median
$123,15075th
$154,21090th
$61,122This org · 19th
p10$37,386
p25$68,936
p50$95,225
p75$123,150
p90$154,210
$61,122

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
Central United Methodist Church Of Detroit Community Development Corp MI$1,165,684 Executive Director $90,228 $92,012 2024
Build From Within Alliance MN$1,166,008 Senior Advisor $159,480 $155,692 2024
Mid-kansas Community Action Program KS$1,162,894 Executive Di $53,897 $57,528 2024
California Center For Cooperation CA$1,162,585 Executive Dir. $106,500 $90,859 2024
Downtown Albany Restoration Program Inc NY$1,162,489 Executive Direc $166,542 $153,076 2023
🔒 232 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 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 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 default19th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)18th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted21st
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted13th

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

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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 10, 2026.