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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Heroic Gardens

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 824243509
PA · NTEE C41
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Suzanne Collie Turner, Executive Director / CEO ($54,150) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 501 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 49th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Suzanne Collie Turner — reported title “Executive Dir.”, a direct title match to the Executive Director / CEO role.

How comparable organizations were selected

501 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 501 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$622 total compensation of comparable organizations → $414,091 $54,150
$12,15610th
$32,31925th
$55,833Median
$76,79775th
$101,30890th
$54,150This org · 49th
p10$12,156
p25$32,319
p50$55,833
p75$76,797
p90$101,308
$54,150

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 PA 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
Assoc Of Us Delegates To The Gulf Of ME$216,510 Executive Director & Counc $73,905 $74,209 2024
School Garden Project Of Lane County OR$216,246 Executive Dir. $57,975 $53,988 2024
Project O CA$216,852 President & Ceo $54,000 $48,140 2023
Nation Ford Land Trust SC$216,144 Director $44,162 $45,009 2025
Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear MI$216,955 Executive Director $32,000 $33,121 2024
Friends Of Lake Elmo's MN$217,060 Board Member $2,013 $1,995 2024
Delray Beach Children's Garden Inc FL$215,927 President $39,996 $38,790 2023
Patagonia Area Resource Alliance AZ$217,200 Co Chair And Mission Coordinator $29,466 $29,256 2023
North Shore Latino Business Center MA$215,700 Clerk $111,122 $100,133 2024
Champions Kids Camp Inc TX$215,477 President $41,460 $41,588 2024
Restore The Earth Foundation Inc MD$217,709 Executive Director $249,996 $234,371 2024
The Treeline Conservancy MI$217,730 Executive Di $115,131 $122,684 2023
People For Urban Progress Inc IN$215,173 Executive Director $52,911 $55,953 2024
Simsbury Land Trust Inc CT$217,828 Executive Director $7,866 $7,205 2025
Affta Fisheries Fund MT$215,150 Executive Dir. $70,000 $77,901 2023
Three Rivers Land Trust ME$214,866 Executive Director, Outgoing $28,719 $29,689 2023
Maine Association Of Conservation Districts ME$214,852 Executive Director (Contracted) $35,055 $36,239 2023
Wisconsin Woodland Owners WI$218,332 Executive Di $82,400 $86,294 2024
Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust ME$218,450 Executive Director $92,837 $93,219 2024
Pokegama Lake Association MN$218,503 Secretary $2,700 $2,675 2024
I-20 Wildlife Preserve & Jenna Welch TX$214,236 Executive Dir. $59,249 $61,187 2023
Keuka Lake Association NY$218,784 Secretary $19,703 $17,854 2024
Treasure Valley Canopy Network Inc ID$214,161 Executive Director $52,734 $57,915 2023
Indiana Land Protection Alliance IN$213,769 Executive Director $77,500 $84,376 2023
Kittitas Environmental Education Network WA$213,581 Environmental Education Director $33,804 $30,349 2024

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to PA 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 PA 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 default49th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)49th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted50th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted47th

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 (Suzanne Collie Turner) 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 501 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE major group (C), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $54,150 is reasonable (approximately the 49th 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.