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

Foothill Conservancy

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 680205572
CA · NTEE C30
FY ending 2024-09-30
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Craig Baracco, Executive Director / CEO ($26,926) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 61 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 38th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Craig Baracco — reported title “Executive Director”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

61 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 61 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$186 total compensation of comparable organizations → $212,531 $26,926
$3,82610th
$13,90825th
$36,539Median
$67,94975th
$91,99390th
$26,926This org · 38th
p10$3,826
p25$13,908
p50$36,539
p75$67,949
p90$91,993
$26,926

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 CA 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
Solar Austin TX$66,281 Executive Director $26,833 $31,084 2024
Oakfield Conservation Club WI$65,968 President $500 $623 2023
Lake Erie Waterkeeper Inc OH$67,619 Executive Director $6,000 $7,359 2024
Pines And Prairies Land Trust TX$67,739 Executive Director $76,210 $90,892 2023
Community Counts Colorado Inc CO$67,973 Executive Di $23,100 $26,409 2023
National Historic Trails Center WY$68,225 Executive Director $40,000 $49,604 2024
Center For Ecological Living & Learning MD$69,268 President $94,952 $102,804 2024
Go Alliance OR$70,080 Director, President, Executive Director $76,680 $82,466 2024
Meeker Memorial Hospital Foundation MN$70,214 Foundation Director $12,154 $13,908 2024
Little Miami Watershed Network OH$70,815 Executive Di $25,000 $31,570 2023
First People's Conservation Council LA$61,737 President $3,000 $3,826 2024
2c Mississippi Towards Sustainable MS$73,380 President $61,091 $81,122 2023
Around The World In Eighty Fabrics CA$73,510 Director $5,652 $5,652 2024
Islands First Inc NY$58,985 Executive Director $50,317 $54,210 2023
Our Zero Waste Future Incorporated MD$74,295 Executive Dir $11,440 $12,386 2024
350org Action Fund MA$58,516 Executive Director $34,973 $36,395 2024
Friends Of Merrymeeting Bay ME$58,443 Database Manager $155 $186 2023
Carmel River Watershed Conservancy CA$74,463 Executive Director/vice President $48,000 $49,418 2023
Worldopt Institute Inc HI$58,166 Secretary $13,221 $13,708 2024
Bristol Virginia Public Schools Education Foundation VA$57,923 Executive Director $28,554 $32,871 2023
Borneo Research Council ME$57,273 Treasurer $18,994 $22,677 2023
Outdoor Intervention Inc IN$57,041 President $39,803 $48,610 2024
Magellan Foundation Inc NY$56,783 President - $7,030 $7,167 2025
Mcgill Rose Garden SC$56,585 Sr Garden Di $23,500 $28,392 2024
Dahlia Hill Society Of Midland MI$76,529 Executive Di $43,141 $51,568 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to CA 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 CA 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 default38th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)44th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted44th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted31st

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 (Craig Baracco) 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 61 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE major group (C), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $26,926 is reasonable (approximately the 38th 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.