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

Keep The Midlands Beautiful

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 570888246
SC · NTEE C500
FY ending 2024-06-30
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Traude Sander, Executive Director / CEO ($55,867) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 38 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 42nd percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

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

How comparable organizations were selected

38 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 38 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$594 total compensation of comparable organizations → $160,314 $55,867
$10,44710th
$38,76225th
$58,806Median
$86,51075th
$111,26790th
$55,867This org · 42nd
p10$10,447
p25$38,762
p50$58,806
p75$86,510
p90$111,267
$55,867

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 SC 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
Chandler Park Conservancy MI$235,449 Ceo $118,533 $117,275 2024
Keep Jackson Beautiful MS$238,983 Executive Dir $3,200 $3,518 2023
Keep Etowah Beautiful Inc AL$227,535 Executive Di $44,500 $44,894 2025
Scenic Pittsburgh PA$240,966 Executive Director $71,500 $70,366 2023
Wyoming Pathways WY$241,814 Executive Director $90,000 $95,107 2023
Keep Evansville Beautiful Inc IN$242,493 Past Executive Director $62,047 $62,720 2024
Keep Virginia Beautiful VA$245,919 Executive Director $80,000 $74,042 2024
The Treeline Conservancy MI$217,730 Executive Di $115,131 $117,274 2023
Rail-trail Council Of Northeastern PA$212,660 Executive Director $26,088 $24,937 2024
Bucks Beautiful Inc PA$212,217 Executive Di $40,083 $38,315 2024
Keep Alabama Beautiful AL$256,170 Executive Director $41,000 $42,458 2024
Dixie Fire Canopy Project CA$209,783 Executive Dir. $12,750 $10,553 2024
Keep Rockland Beautiful Inc NY$202,946 Executive Director $61,506 $53,275 2024
Warrick Parks & Trails Foundation Inc IN$200,387 Executive Director $49,292 $51,298 2023
3d Nature Technologies Inc TX$200,000 Vice President And Secretary $91,000 $89,833 2023
Citizens Caring For Clearlake CA$268,914 President & Ceo $4,050 $3,352 2024
Uptown Lexington Inc NC$195,095 President $600 $594 2024
Clean Valley Council Inc VA$194,336 Executive Director $65,589 $59,139 2025
Narrow Ridge Center TN$189,012 Director $31,981 $32,223 2024
Keep Nebraska Beautiful NE$278,359 President $92,600 $98,288 2023
Memory Trees Corporation FL$187,856 Executive Director $11,000 $10,198 2023
Keep Toledolucas County OH$279,879 Exec Directo $92,648 $96,840 2023
Keep Polk County Beautiful Inc FL$184,054 Executive Director $66,619 $58,443 2025
Carlsbad Mainstreet Project NM$288,535 Executive Director $57,750 $61,298 2023
Delaware Greenways Inc DE$174,120 Executive Director $67,742 $63,581 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to SC 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 SC 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 default42nd
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)37th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted42nd
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted37th

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 (Traude Sander) 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 38 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE sector (C50), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $55,867 is reasonable (approximately the 42nd 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.