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

Serve Source

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 882247924
TX · NTEE M11
FY ending 2024-12-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Derick Zwerneman, Executive Director / CEO ($64,000) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 337 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 80th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

Benchmarked executive: Derick Zwerneman — reported title “PRESIDENT/BOARD OF DIRECTORS”, selected as the organization's highest-paid individual — no exact title match, so confirm this is a comparable role.

How comparable organizations were selected

337 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 337 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$8 total compensation of comparable organizations → $278,204 $64,000
$65810th
$2,71025th
$13,750Median
$50,21175th
$84,64890th
$64,000This org · 80th
p10$658
p25$2,710
p50$13,750
p75$50,211
p90$84,648
$64,000

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 TX 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
Raymond Harvel Area Ambulance Service IL$337,005 Bookkeeper $1,800 $1,769 2024
Fast Cpr HI$338,281 President & Director $204,007 $187,985 2023
Windsor Volunteer Fire Department Inc FL$334,716 Chief $26,000 $24,417 2024
Thetford Volunteer Fire Department VT$333,849 Fire Chief $35,000 $36,258 2023
District 6 Hospital Preparedness Planning Committe IN$340,535 Business Operations Manager $89,208 $94,046 2024
Los Gatos Monte Sereno Safe Routes CA$333,345 Executive Dir. $9,000 $7,569 2025
National Fire Safety Council Inc MI$340,835 President/di $94,753 $97,771 2024
Invincible Fire Company Inc OH$340,930 Treasurer $3,250 $3,441 2024
Pocono Mountain Volunteer Fire Company PA$341,708 Fire Chief $1,500 $1,539 2023
Care Resource Connection MN$332,262 Executive Director $45,000 $45,764 2023
Courtney Volunteer Fire Dept Inc NC$332,240 Chief $31,185 $33,164 2023
Smart North Florida Inc FL$332,039 Executive Director $110,000 $103,304 2024
Operation Blessing Disaster Relief Services Inc VA$330,380 President $22,347 $21,570 2024
National Center For Urban Operations Inc NY$330,379 Director $55,240 $51,375 2023
Lone Hickory Vol Fire Dept Inc NC$329,933 Treas. $1,800 $1,859 2024
Jay Volunteer Fire Department Inc FL$329,745 President $3,600 $3,381 2024
Drewry Volunteer Fire Department NC$344,348 Captain $9,165 $9,467 2024
Guilford Volunteer Fire Department VT$329,439 President $7,821 $7,666 2025
Safe 2 School CA$344,963 Executive Dir. $86,771 $74,904 2024
Seminole County Sheriff's Office FL$345,079 Executive Director $38,004 $35,691 2024
West Greenwich Volunteer Fire RI$345,252 President $4,012 $3,747 2025
Gatesville Fire Department Inc TX$328,720 Fire Chief $50,871 $50,871 2024
Volunteer Fire Company Of Mt Lebanon Inc PA$346,736 President $666 $664 2024
Huntington Manor Volunteer Fire NY$327,323 Chief $1,800 $1,626 2024
Greater Pine Island Alliance FL$327,148 Executive Administrator $3,840 $3,712 2023

Comp (reported) is the figure on each organization's Form 990 (columns D + F); Comp (adjusted) normalizes it to TX 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 TX 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 default80th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)79th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted82nd
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted77th

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 (Derick Zwerneman) 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 337 similarly situated organizations (Same NTEE major group (M), nationwide + budget 0.67–1.5× revenue).
  3. The authorized body determined that total compensation of $64,000 is reasonable (approximately the 80th 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.