The Advertising Council Inc

“I) a copy was provided to the audit committee of the board of directors; ii) the 990 was provided electronically; iii) the ad council provides schedules to an outside accounting firm who prepares its form 990. The firm has an established review process to ensure the information provided is comprehensive and truthful: throughout the year, the audit committee has opportunities to discuss and comment on the form 990 during their regularly scheduled meetings. Prior to filing the final draft (electronic version) of the form 990 it is provided to the audit committee.”

“All board members, employees and volunteers receive the code of conduct and conflict of interest policy and are required to sign the policy. Signed forms are maintained both within the development department (for board members) and within the hr department (for employees). Ad council requires that any member report in writing any conflict of interest that arises in the following manner: 1) members of the board of directors shall disclose any conflict of interest to the chairman of the board; 2) employees shall disclose any conflict of interest to the chief people officer; and 3) volunteers shall disclose any conflict of interest to the ad council's ceo or cfo. The existence of a potential conflict of interest does not necessarily constitute a violation of the conflict of interest policy. The policy requires disclosure and review of potential conflicts and prohibition of actual conflicts of interest. In some cases, disclosure may be all that is required. In other cases, the situation may require additional action to avoid an actual conflict of interest or to remedy one. Where a conflict of interest arises, an interested covered party shall abstain from deliberations and refrain from participating in any decisions or voting in connection with the matter. The code of conduct and conflict of interest policy is reviewed annually.”

“Approximately every four years, the ad council hires an independent consulting firm to conduct a comprehensive compensation study. The study is conducted to assess the external competitiveness of the ad council's current total pay, develop comparable market base salary and total pay summary statistics and audit, and recommend changes to the ad council's employee incentive plan. The most recent comprehensive study was performed in september 2021 which included an updated compensation design and salary structure. The information gathered from these studies is used to help inform the decision-making process of the compensation committee. The compensation committee is comprised of the chairman of the board, the three vice chairs and the head of the finance committee. The committee meets at least annually to review and establish the total compensation package (base salary and incentive goals) for the president and ceo and chiefs. The committee also reviews and approves the total incentive payout for the entire organization. This entire process is contemporaneously documented in meeting minutes. Fiscal year 2024 compensation review was performed in october 2023. Other key employees are addressed in the compensation study and this comparative data is used as a part of the process where the ceo, cfo, hr, and department heads review and approve the compensation package for each employee annually.”

“Governing documents (by-laws) and/or conflict of interest policy are available upon request. The financial statements can be found on the ad council's website: www.adcouncil.org.”

“The ad council's business model includes the services of a pro bono advertising agency for each of the public service announcement campaigns ("campaigns") that the ad council creates and distributes for its government and non-profit clients. Amongst these volunteer ad agencies are several agencies that have officers who also sit on the ad council board. The pro bono advertising agencies are approved by the client prior to their selection. These agencies donate their labor to the campaign, with the exception of certain pre-authorized specialized tasks which are offered at discounted rates. The ad council and its clients pay for pre-approved out-of-pocket costs incurred in the course of performance for these specific campaigns. These reimbursed costs include physical production, travel, third party research, telephone, postage and certain other costs of creating, producing, and distributing these campaigns. Additionally, the ad council utilizes the services of specialized vendors for the campaigns that often provide discounted and non-profit rates to the ad council. Amongst these specialized vendors are several businesses that have officers who also sit on the ad council board. The ad council also has several regional employees who work out of donated office space from companies that have officers who sit on the ad council board. These office costs are accounted for as in-kind use of facilities.”

“The ad council convenes creative storytellers to educate, unite and uplift audiences by opening hearts, inspiring action and accelerating change around the most pressing issues in america. Since our founding, the ad council and our partners in advertising, media, marketing and tech have been behind some of the country's most iconic and impactful campaigns - smokey bear, friends don't let friends drive drunk, tear the paper ceiling and many more. With a current focus on mental health, substance use disorders, skills-first hiring, anti-hate, gun violence prevention, and other critical issues, the ad council's national campaigns encompass advertising and media content, ground game and community efforts, employer programs, trusted messenger and influencer engagement, among other innovative strategies.”

“While donated media is essential to the success of the campaigns, we ultimately strive to inspire action and improve lives. We continually seek ways to innovate and to enhance the impact of each campaign, and this year was no different. We secured new creative, technological, digital, mobile and media partners to deepen engagement and drive behavioral shifts among all of our target audiences. The ad council's 30+ active campaigns aim to inspire change and improve lives. Notable campaign results in fy24 include: adoption from foster care those who recall seeing or hearing at least one campaign psa are significantly more likely to say they have seriously considered adopting a teen from foster care (40% vs. 13% in fy24). Diabetes (type 2) prevention there have been 8.4 million visitors to the campaign website, doihaveprediabetes.org, since it launched in january 2016. In addition, a total of 24.3 million on-site risk test completions and video view completions through june 2024 to assess individuals risk of prediabetes. Fatherhood involvement in fy24, 60% of fathers saw at least one of the campaign psas, significantly above the ad council norm lung cancer screening since the campaign launched in august 2017, there have been over 6.2 million visits to savedbythescan.org with 1.3 million on-site quiz completions, of which 21% were determined to be high-risk individuals. Suicide prevention in q3 2023, we experienced an all-time high (68%) in the percentage of young adults who report they could identify when a friend is struggling very/extremely well. Transforming hiring and diversifying talent in q1 2024, stars who have seen or heard the campaign psas are significantly more likely to agree that they are "more likely to apply for jobs that require bachelor's degrees than i was 2-3 years ago," 49% ad aware vs. 88% not aware. Veterans crisis prevention 43% of veterans said they had seen or heard at least one of the psas, up significantly from november 2022 (28%). This represents approximately 8 million veterans in the u.s.”

“Actuarial change in post retirement obligations 2,755. Write-off of pledge receivables -302.”

“The ad council has an audit committee that assumes responsibility for the oversight of the audit of the financial statements and for the selection of the independent auditors. This process has not changed from the prior year.”