Lighthouse School Inc.

“Upon completion of the form 990, a draft is reviewed by the organization's president/ceo, cfo and the cpa firm's partner and manager. Following this meeting, the partner has a meeting with the chair of the audit and finance committee. The audit and finance committee then meets to formulate its recommendations. A meeting is then held by the entire board of directors. At the conclusion of this process, the board makes a final determination on the form 990.”

“The spirit of the conflict of interest policy is deeply imbedded in the philosophy and operating principles of the organization. A carefully crafted system of checks and balances ensures that any evidence of conflicts of interest would be readily accessible to other members of the governance team. In addition, all participants are fully informed about the incompatibility of conflicts of interest to the integrity of the organization. Consequently, matters involving conflicts of interest are generally non-existent.”

“The board of directors has within it a variety of standing committees. One such committee is the compensation and evaluation committee. It is the sole responsibility of this committee to conduct on an annual basis a thorough evaluation of the executive director's performance, including written goals and written descriptions pertaining to the achievements or lack thereof of those goals. In addition, the compensation and evaluation committee undertakes a formal process of comparable compensation assessment analysis. Included in this analysis are the recommendations from an independent compensation specialist who provides recommendations to the board regarding appropriate compensation relative to other compensation packages of similar organizations nationwide. The compensation and evaluation committee then determines final compensation recommendations that are presented to the entire board of directors for consideration and final determination. The organization maintains contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision.”

“Our forms 990 (current and prior three years) are available on the official website of the attorney general of massachusetts at www.charities.ago.state.ma.us and guidestar at www2.guidestar.org. We also make our form 990, form 1023, form 990-t, articles of incorporation, and bylaws available to the public upon request. Our audited financial statements are also available on the official website of the attorney general of massachusetts at www.charities.ago.state.ma.us. In addition, various other governing documents are also available at the official website of the secretary of state of massachusetts at: www.corp.sec.state.ma.us/corp/corpsearch/corpsearchinput.asp”

“The governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are all readily accessible to the public in a variety of ways. First, as a 501(c)(3) organization, the irs is provided with such documents as organizational articles of incorporation and organization bylaws. In addition, the irs as a representative of the federal branch of government receives an annual form 990 and the commonwealth of massachusetts operational services division, as a representative of the state branch of government annually receives the uniform financial report inclusive of audited financial statements. In addition, the massachusetts attorney general's office receives a copy of form pc (public charities) report, which also includes a form 990. Finally, the town of chelmsford, as a representative of the local branch of government annually receives the form 3abc, which includes a complete copy of the form pc. All requests for additional documentation are also promptly complied with.”