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PeerBasis
Compensation Comparability Determination

Marine Stewardship Council

Executive Director / CEO

EIN 980470539
· NTEE C32
FY ending 2025-03-31
June 9, 2026

This analysis benchmarks the total compensation of Rupert Howes, Executive Director / CEO ($330,348) against every comparable organization that fit the selection criteria — 63 in total — drawn systematically from IRS Form 990 filings, not a hand-picked subset.

Compensation sits at approximately the 54th percentile of comparable organizationswithin the typical range

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

How comparable organizations were selected

63 organizations qualified on sector, size, and geography 63 within the band form the benchmarked peer set.

Distribution of comparable compensation

$39,625 total compensation of comparable organizations → $866,656 $330,348
$171,47010th
$203,16225th
$301,573Median
$475,64775th
$595,86690th
$330,348This org · 54th
p10$171,470
p25$203,162
p50$301,573
p75$475,647
p90$595,866
$330,348

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); the reported amount is on each linked 990.

OrganizationStateRevenueMatched titleComp
(reported)
Comp
(adjusted)
FY
National Parks Conservation Association DC$35,078,730 President And Ceo $570,194 $602,568 2023
The International Council On Clean DC$34,948,293 Executive Director $425,355 $449,505 2023
Earth Island Institute Inc CA$34,936,590 Executive Director $162,086 $171,289 2023
Climate Power DC$35,315,235 Executive Director $162,942 $172,193 2023
Oceana Inc DC$34,668,686 Counsel Thru 7/24; Ceo As Of 7/24 $554,390 $569,058 2024
🔒 58 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 the subject's state cost of living and 2025 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. 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 default54th
Total compensation (D + F), as reported (no adjustments)56th
Reportable pay only (column D), adjusted60th
All sources (D + E + F), adjusted76th

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 63-organization comparison, the date, and the percentile finding, ready to paste into your minutes — is included in the purchased report.

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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.