Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine

“The board of directors shall, at a minimum, establish one or more committees (each of which shall consist of one or more directors) to oversee, and to make recommendations to the board of directors in regard to, the responsibilities of the board as set forth in article iv, section 1. The board chair and vice chair shall recommend a slate of committee chairs and committee members to the full board annually. Such committees, to the extent provided in said resolution, shall have and exercise the authority of the board of directors in the management of the corporation, except no such committee may exercise the authority of the board of directors in reference to the following matters: (i) filling vacancies on, or increasing or decreasing the members of, the board of directors or any committee of the board of directors; or (ii) adoption, amendment or repeal of these bylaws or the articles of incorporation.”

“The foundation worked closely with an independent public accounting firm engaged to prepare the form 990. The draft form 990 prepared by the accounting firm was reviewed by the foundation's president/ceo. A copy of the complete form 990 was provided to all voting members of the board of directors for approval prior to filing with the internal revenue service.”

“The foundation maintains a conflict of interest and ethics statement as provided by the make-a-wish foundation of america for each officer, employee, board member, and volunteer. Such statements must be signed upon date of hire, election, or commencement of volunteer service, and at least annually thereafter. The signed statements are then submitted to and reviewed by the volunteer coordinator if they are from volunteers, and the president/ceo if from staff and board members. Review of the statements is monitored by the president/ceo. The procedures for addressing any conflicts of interest of which the president/ceo becomes aware includes, but are not limited to, the following (1) determining the nature of the conflict via verbal or written communication with the interested person, (2) fully disclosing conflicting interests to the board, (3) the conflicted person recuses himself/herself from deliberations and decisions regarding the transaction, and (4) taking appropriate actions warranted by the conflict as recommended by the board up to and including termination of service.”

“The executive committee of the board, comprised solely of independent directors, none of whom have a conflict of interest with respect to the compensation arrangement, was accountable for setting a reasonable compensation package for the president/ceo and other officers of the foundation. The committee performs an annual review and establishes goals for the next fiscal year. The committee also gathers benchmarking data relevant to the officers from comparable national nonprofit organizations and analyzes the salary survey results provided by make-a-wish foundation of america. The foundation's written records include the (1) terms of the compensation arrangements, (2) a description of the comparable data relied upon by the executive committee, (3) documentation of the decisions made by the executive committee and (4) who were present and how they voted. This process was last performed during fiscal 2024.”

“The organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements available upon request.”

“It is the founding principle of our vision to grant the wish of every eligible child, between the ages of 2 1/2 and 18. For wish kids, just the act of making their wish come true can give them the courage to comply with their medical treatments. With our wish-making process we strive to bring a sense of excitement and hope during extremely difficult times and deliver a joyful life-changing experience whether the wish is a princess party, swim with the dolphins, or the countless other possibilities dreamed up by the magical mind of a child. The make-a-wish foundation of maine granted 89 life-changing wishes in the fiscal year ending august 31, 2024. The total cost of the wishes granted for the fiscal year was $1,837,441. Of this amount, $210,613 was contributed by various vendors who provided in-kind contributions such as travel and travel services, transportation, lodging, and other services and use of facilities to complete a child's wish. For financial statement purposes, these amounts are included as contribution revenue and granted wish expense. For form 990, however, the irs requires this amount be excluded from both revenue and expense.”