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

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 590668480
FL · NTEE C420
FY ending 2024-10-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Carl Lewis, Executive Director / CEO ($161,521) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 133 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 27th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

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

How comparable organizations were selected

133 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 133 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$12,510 total compensation of comparable organizations → $862,530 $161,521
$118,38610th
$152,63525th
$226,828Median
$296,69875th
$380,21290th
$161,521This org · 27th
p10$118,386
p25$152,635
p50$226,828
p75$296,698
p90$380,212
$161,521

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 FL 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
Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program TX$13,332,022 Executive Director $129,107 $137,475 2024
Society For The Protection Of New NH$13,274,033 President $189,025 $181,005 2025
Shelterwood Collective CA$13,226,131 Co-exec Dir. $93,912 $88,872 2023
Island Conservation CA$13,417,416 Ceo - Until 6/30/24 $253,828 $233,314 2024
Friends Of The Osa DC$13,421,883 Executive Director $71,084 $66,401 2024
🔒 128 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 FL 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 FL 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 default27th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)30th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted31st
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted24th

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 133-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.