Grow America Fund Inc.

“The national council for community development, inc d/b/a the national development council is the sole member of grow america fund, inc.”

“The national council for community development, inc d/b/a the national development council as the sole member it has the right to elect the directors of the corporation.”

“The form 990 was prepared by outside tax preparers in consultation with management and auditors. A draft of the full form 990 was provided to entire board for review. A complete copy of the final form 990 was provided to the organization's entire board before it was filed with the irs.”

“All members of the grow america fund, inc. ("gaf") board of directors and executive employees are required to annually execute a conflict of interest and compensation guidelines acknowledgement stating that they have received, read and understand, and agree to comply with the conflict of interest and compensation guidelines. The conflict of interest and compensation guidelines requires board members and executive employees to disclose any potential conflicts of interest immediately. The chairperson of the board will upon notification of such an event appoint a disinterested person or committee to investigate alternatives to the proposed transaction. Violations of the conflict of interest policy can result in appropriate disciplinary and corrective action. Also, all board members, by executing the conflict of interest and compensation guidelines, acknowledge that they share the responsibility of gaf to remain faithful to the organization's charitable purposes.”

“The documents are available by request.”

“All of the organization's board members work for the parent organization national council for community development. While none are independent the independent board of directors of the parent oversees the organization's operations and actions.”

“Cougar mountain baking company: in 1988, david saulnier, the future owner of cougar mountain baking company, created his first batch of chocolate chip cookies, from scratch, in his kitchen at home. Later that year, at the age of 20, david started cougar mountain baking company (cmbc). Cmbc is now based near the magnolia fisherman's terminal area of seattle in a 6,000 square foot building with state-of-the-art equipment. Gaf assisted it with purchasing additional space to house the cougar mountain products. The acquisition cost $975,000 and gaf funded $75,000 in small improvements to get the location suitable for the company's needs. Gaf provided $877,500 to acquire the building, $75,000 in improvement costs and an estimated $52,500 in soft in closing costs for a loan of $1,005,000. Amortized and termed over 25 years, this loan possesses a fixed rate of 2% for the first three years becoming prime plus 1 starting in year four. Amclo group: incorporated in 1986, the amclo group manufactures and distributes metal and plastic end and closure caps to customers in all 50 states. The company creates its products from tin, plastic, aluminum, steel and gold. For most of its existence, the amclo group rented space from the city of cleveland. The facility was located in a blighted, brownfields area of east cleveland slated for major redevelopment into the "opportunity corridor". The company needed to find a new location that would allow it to improve operational process flow and grow. Cleveland industrial retention initiative (ciri) had been working with the amclo group to find a new manufacturing facility introduced its owners to gaf. With pre-approval for a real estate acquisition loan from gaf, amclo pursued several new facilities and settled on an appropriate facility in the city of north royalton. Gaf provided a $661,000 loan with a fixed interest rate of 5% over the fourteen year, ten-month term. All of the borrowers illustrated above were unable to secure loans from conventional lenders under similar terms and conditions. If gaf were unable to make the loans, each of the borrowers would have been unable to expand their businesses and create jobs.”

“The process has not changes from the prior year.”

“The amounts reported on lines 7-9 related to expenses paid by the parent company (national council for community development ein 13-6532871) and allocated to the organization.”