Windustry

“A copy of the form 990 is provided to the entire board of directors for review and approval prior to filing.”

“All employees are provided with a copy of the conflict of interest policy when hired and must sign a form stating that they have read the policy. Employees and board members must review the policy annually and sign a form stating that they will comply with the policy.”

“The executive director's salary is reviewed annually by the board of directors. Her salary is reviewed based on merit and compared to the current cola and the most recent minnesota nonprofit salary and benefits survey to determine appropriate pay adjustment, if any.”

“Governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements are available to the public upon request.”

“The organization's mission is to promote sustainable energy solutions and empower communities to develop and own clean energy assets as an independent voice acting in support of communities, we work through education. Outreach, and advocacy to advance broad community ownership.”

“And essential accomplishment as it is our major outreach and communication center. As we migrated the vast amounts of information from the windustry website to a new software program, we did a massive clean up and update. Also, new tools were created such as the permitting database for minnesota counties. This allows people to see the status of permitting rules and procedures for each county in minnesota. Midwest wind energy center: as the managing partner of the regional resource center for the midwest region under a contract with the us department of energy we really got the midwest wind energy center (mwec) moving forward and went live with our new mwec website. There are ten and one half states in the mwec regional footprint: ohio, michigan, indiana, illinois, wisconsin, iowa, missouri, minnesota, north dakota, south dakota, and montana. Our activities and strategies are as follows: 1: provide basic education and unbiased information resources about wind energy. A.produce, present and supplement exhibits for state & county fairs and other public events for general education. B.create educational media items, including videos, maps, and information graphics. Distribute this material online through the mwec website, social media, and video channels. C.foster media connections, give interviews, and contribute to articles. D.actively support and participate in clean energy forums at local, state, and regional levels. 2: facilitate and improve state and local planning, permitting, siting and policy for wind energy. A.research and develop materials to market model ordinances and tools to facilitate their adoption. Disseminate research findings and model ordinance broadly. B.actively support and participate in community planning and policy forums. 3: perform outreach to state and local decision makers about wind energy economic benefits and development challenges. A.track and share easement payments and compensation packages to landowners for hosting wind projects. B.monitor and provide updates on rural landowner compensation for transmission siting for renewable energy facilities. C.gather and share information about property tax and production tax treatments of wind energy. D.create accessible materials about regional transmission studies and projects. 4: educate decision makers about studies demonstrating economic feasibility for using wind power to make reductions in c02 emissions. In accomplishing activities toward these goals, windustry, as managing partner, held several planning meetings with partnering contractors and organizing meetings with our regional advisory committee. We produced webinars throughout the year and convened a regional meeting in detroit, michigan in june. Education, outreach and advocacy: windustry presented our 11th annual wind energy center in the eco experience at the 2015 minnesota state fair, which highlights wind energy as an environmental solution to more than 350,000 visitors over the 12 days of the fair. We produce the wind energy center from beginning to end. This entails planning and designing the interactive displays, building and installing, recruiting and training 65-75 volunteers, staffing the exhibits for 9-hours per day for 12 days. And we gathered approximately 1000 signatures to support a national community wind partnership initiative. Windustry designed and launched a new campaign for community wind called stickwindhere. This two year campaign started with the minnesota state fair and will perform outreach broadly to wind industry members and community members of all types large and small, rural and urban. And finally during the year, windustry worked with its own board and staff on development where we renewed our values, refreshed and reinforced our mission with the "why of windustry": empower the well-being of communities.”