United States Soccer Federation

“Members or stockholders & governance decision of the organization: membership in the united states soccer federation ("the federation") is open to all soccer organizations and all soccer players, coaches, trainers, managers, administrators and officials without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, citizenship, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or veteran status. The federation has the following categories of membership: (1) organization member composed of the following classifications of members: (a) associate (b) disabled service organization (c) indoor professional league (d) national affiliate (e) national association (f) national member (g) other affiliate (h) professional league (i) state association (2) life member (3) individual sustaining member an organization desiring to become an organization member of the federation must submit a written application for membership to the secretary general. The applicant must apply for a specific membership category. The applicant must include with the application copies of its charter, articles of incorporation or other organizational documents, bylaws, rules, regulations, any rules of play, and other governing documents sufficient to describe the structure, nature, and extent of the organizations activities. The secretary general shall prescribe the form of the membership application and each document to be submitted. The secretary general shall refer an application to be an organization member to the board of directors for consideration. The board shall submit the application and accompanying documents to the appropriate committee or task force of the federation for review and report. The board shall determine whether the applicant complies with the bylaws, policies and requirements of the federation for the membership category for which the applicant applied. If the board determines that the applicant qualifies, the board may (a) admit the applicant to provisional membership in the federation until the next meeting of the national council that the application can be considered and recommend that the applicant be admitted into full membership of the federation, or (b) if the national council has delegated to the board authority to approve an application, admit the applicant to full membership in the federation. If the board determines that applicant does not qualify, provisional membership shall not be granted and the board shall either deny the application or recommend to the national council that the applicant not be approved for membership in the federation. The national council or board, as applicable, shall admit a qualified applicant into full membership of the federation by majority vote. Life member: the board may nominate and the national council may approve any person who has made a significant lifetime contribution towards the advancement and promotion of the sport of soccer to be a life member. Life membership shall be considered the highest recognition bestowed by the federation in recognition of lifetime activities promoting the sport of soccer. A voting member of the national council may recommend to the board of directors that an individual be nominated to be a life member of the federation. A recommendation must be submitted to the secretary general at least 180 days before the national council meeting at which the nomination may be considered. The board may nominate up to two life member candidates each year and is not obligated to make any nomination in any year. A majority vote of the board shall be required to nominate a life member. A majority vote of the national council shall be required to grant life membership. A life member may exercise voting rights as provided at national council meetings. Individual sustaining members: any individual, including any athlete, trainer, manager, administrator and official active in soccer in the united states may become an individual sustaining member of the fede”

“Members and stockholders: the national council shall be the representative membership body of the federation and have the following authority: (1) to elect the president and vice president of the federation. (2) to amend the articles of incorporation and bylaws of the federation. (3) to approve the budgets of the federation, including budgets of the youth, adult, professional and athletes' advisory councils. (4) to grant life member status to individuals. (5) to appprove changes in boundaries of state associations. (6) to approve membership fees paid to the federation. (7) to approve membership of all organization members. (8) to adopt policies and rescind or amend policies adopted by the board. (9) to affirm actions of the board. (a) the following shall be members of the national council and entitled to one vote unless otherwise specified: (1) delegates from the state associations, national associations, and professional leagues having votes as determined and weighted under section 2 of this bylaw. (2) athletes' council delegates having votes as determined and weighted under section 3 of this bylaw. (3) each voting member of the board of directors. (4) each past president of the federation. (5) each life member, (6) delegates from each national affiliate, other affiliate, indoor professional league, disabled service organization and associate ("other delegates") have votes as follows: 100 less the number of delegates in section 3, 4, 5, and 9 allocated amongst the other delegates as agreed upon by the other delegates. If the other delegates are unable to reach aggreement on the allocation of the number of delegates, the board shall determine the allocation of the numbers. (7) the commissioners of the adult council's administrative commission shall be delegates and also entitled to vote in the adult council. (8) the commissioners of the youth council's administrative commission shall be delegates and also entitled to vote in the youth council. (9) delegate(s) selected by individual sustaining members. (b) an individual eligible to vote in more than one capacity under subsection (a) of this section may only vote in one of those capacities, as selected by that individual. (c)(1) no voting proxy is allowed. Except as provided in subsection (2), an individual may cast all or part of the votes of an organization member having more than one vote at a council meeting. A delegate of an organization member must be an officer, director, or senior executive of the organization member or must be authorized in wirting to serve as a delgate by the governing body of the organization member. (2) for any national council meeting, a delegate of an organization member may not cast votes that exceed 2 percent of the votes eligible to be cast at a council meeting. (d) any dispute regarding voting or eligibility to vote shall be decided by the credentials committee. A decision of the credentials committee may be appealed to the board. (e) an organization member may designate alternates to register for and attend national council meetings. An alternate may not vote but has the right to speak. Form 990, part vi, section a, line 7a: section 2 number of delegates (a) the number of delegates from each of the organization members in the youth, adult, and professional councils shall be determined by the respective councils. The number of delegates voting within a council shall be proportional among its organization members based on the following: (1) in the youth council, the number of delegates for (a) a state association shall be based on the number of players registered and fees paid to the federation by the state association, and (b) a national association shall be based on the number of players registered and fees paid by the national association directly to the federation and not through a state association. In each case, players registered and fees paid shall be for the preceding calendar year, january 1 through december 31, as certified by the fed”

“Governing board review of form 990: the board retains the services of an independent accounting firm to prepare the federation's form 990. Management reviews the completed form 990 and provides a full copy to all voting members of the governing board prior to filing the return.”

“Conflicts of interest policy monitoring: officers, directors and key employees are annually required to complete a conflict of interest disclosure statement as a precursor to their service to the federation. Potential conflicts are logged with and monitored by the risk, audit and compliance committee.”

“Process for determining compensation: the salary of the ceo is determined using a compensation specialist and a compensation survey which is then approved by the board of directors. The salary of key employees is determined by industry surveys which cover other organizations and sporting teams. The salary of all other employees are determined by comparing them against other similar sized organizations.”

“How documents are made available to the public: governing documents are available through applicable governmental agencies. Financial statements and the conflict of interest policy are available on ussf's website or upon request to the federation.”

“Number of voting members the number of voting members of the governing body is reported as 21 per the organization's bylaws. Form 990, part vii includes all voting members and members that are non-voting.”

“Refunded grants adjustment 260,492.”