The Community Renaissance Fund

“The community foundation of st. Clair county's board of trustees (supported organization) meet the last tuesday of each calendar quarter at a minimum. The business agenda of these board meetings include a review of internal financial statements and investment reports that have been reviewed and accepted by its finance and investment committee at one of their monthly meetings. Annually, at the recommendation of its audit committee, the board of trustees engage the services of an independent auditing firm to perform an audit of its financial records and issue audited consolidated financial statements for the calendar year. Additionally, as part of the engagement, the auditing firm is hired to draft the annual form 990 for the community foundation of st. Clair county and its supporting organizations, the community renaissance fund and the blue water land fund; however, community foundation staff are significantly involved in this process. Membership on both the audit committee and the finance and investment committee include a number of board trustees as well as other community members with financial or audit exerience. Aside from meeting with foundation management, the independent auditors meet jointly with both the foundation's audit committee and the foundation's finance and investment committee to present the audited financial statements and review the results of its annual audit. Subsequently, the consolidated audit report is presented to and reviewed by the foundation's board of trustees at its june board meeting. Due to the timing associated with the aforementioned levels of review over the audit report, an automatic extension for filing of the form 990 (from the initial may 15 deadline) is typically required. After the final consolidated financial statements have been issued, the form 990 for the community foundation and its two "controlled" supporting organizations are drafted by the independent audit firm and its tax manager, with the direct assistance of the foundation's director of finance. The final draft of the form 990s are reviewed by the foundation's director of finance and then signed by the foundation's president and ceo before filing and after board acceptance. The form 990's (for the community foundation and its supporting organizations) are distributed to the respective board of trustees for their review prior to filing. For the sake of transparency and time relevance, it is the goal of foundation management to file the form 990's as quickly as possible. If a formal review at the scheduled board of trustee meeting is feasible within the timeframe, foundation management will do so, and the meeting minutes will reflect their formal review. If such a formal review will delay the filing unnecessarily, foundation management will distribute electronically (or in hard copy) a copy of the drafted form 990's for board trustees' reviews. An explanatory cover letter will accompany these form 990's with review notes that "walk" trustees through the document and correlate the return back to the audited financial statements. This cover includes a request that trustees contact the director of finance with any questions and/or to schedule individual reviews as deemed necessary. Each board trustee is requested to document their acceptance of the form 990s formally via a reply to the electronic distribution, or hard copy distribution. Evidence of board of trustee review and approval will be retained in the form 990's files. Upon approval of the board of trustees, the form 990's will be filed. Electronic file versions of the form 990's are then made available on the foundation's website (www.stclairfoundation.org), uploaded to guidestar.org (a resource relative to non-profit organizations), and are also available upon request or in person.”

“The community foundation of st. Clair county and its supporting organizations (community renaissance fund & blue water land fund, inc.) has a board-approved conflict of interest policy that is consistent with such policies of the council on foundations and the council of michigan foundations. All board trustees, including foundation officers, committee members and staff members must review the policy annually and sign a statement which affirms that they: a.) have received a copy of the conflict of interest policy; b.) have read and understand the policy as well as the need to comply with the policy (given that the community foundation mission is charitable and in order to maintain its federal tax exemption it must engage primarily in activities which accomplish one or more of its tax-exempt purposes); c.) have listed all areas of potential conflicts of interest that exist as of the date they are completing the disclosure form, including service on other non-profit boards, financial interests, and family or business relationships; and d.) have agreed to disclose others as they may arise through the year, and when the potential for conflict arises, agree to verbally disclose such areas of potential conflict at all committee/board meetings. In 2011, the foundation established additional conflict of interest policy and disclosure criteria for the position of board chairman. This criteria is an appendix to the existing policy. Foundation management reviews these conflict of interest disclosures upon receipt, summarizes for the board and includes in board books. The disclosure forms are maintained on file. In conducting board or committee business, an interested person must disclose the existence of any actual or possible conflict, and be given the opportunity to disclose all material facts to the board and/or committee. After disclosure, the chair of the board or committee, along with staff, shall have an open discussion as to the material nature of the possible conflict. As deemed appropriate, the interested person may be asked to leave the room during discussion and voting, or the interested party may remain in the meeting and part of discussion yet abstain from voting on any motion. The chairperson of the board or committee may, if appropriate, ask staff and/or other volunteers to investigate alternatives to the proposed transaction or arrangement so that the conflict may be avoided. If the board or committee has reasonable cause to believe that a member has failed to disclose actual or possible conflicts of interest, it shall inform the member of the basis for such belief and afford the member an opportunity to explain the alleged failure to disclose. After hearing the member's response and after making further investigation as warranted by the circumstances, the board or committee shall determine the best course of action to avoid any real or perceived conflict. Such action may include revoking or changing any previous decision or action taken prior to learning of the conflict. The minutes of the board and committees shall contain the names of members and staff present at the meeting, the names of members who have a possible conflict of interest with the associated group, organization, business or transaction for which the conflict may exist, and documentation as to what action was taken in regards to the conflict.”

“Governing documents (articles of incorporation and bylaws) for the community renaissance fund are available on the community foundation of st. Clair county's (supported organization) website (www.stclairfoundation.org) as downloadable documents, along with other policies and key documents such as our audited financial statements and irs form 990s. Hard-copies are also available upon request. It is the goal of the foundation, its staff, and board to be accountable and transparent to our donors and the entire community by regularly disseminating our program and financial information. It is our intent to comply with the internal revenue code and regulations with respect to public inspection of the form 990s, irs form 990-ts to the extent a filing were required, and the irs determination letters for the community foundation and its controlled supporting organizations. Therefore, the foundation will: 1) make these documents available for public inspection at its offices during regular business hours without charge 2) provide a copy without charge, other than a reasonable fee for reproduction and actual postage costs, of all or any part of these documents required to be made available for public inspection to any individual who makes a request for such a copy in person or in writing; and 3) upload and maintain on our website the foundation's audited financial statements, form 990's and form 990-t's to the extent filings were required for a minimum of 3 years. Additionally, the guidestar organization serves as a resource for those individuals and organizations wishing to research non-profit organizations by working with the irs to make available the 990s of all non-profit organizations. Recognizing that this availability is sometimes delayed and readers may not understand the full picture of who we are and what we do through the form 990 alone, the foundation will pay the nominal fee to voluntarily have its irs form 990s uploaded to guidestar's website, along with its auditied financial statements that includeds an opening cover letter from management discussing key philosophies, initiatives, and the financials.”

“Community renaissance fund - 990 narrative addressing common paymaster: the community foundation of st. Clair county, tax id 38-1872132, acts as common paymaster for both it's organization and it's two supporting organizations - the community renaissance fund, tax id 20-1649237 and the blue water land fund, inc., tax id 45-2908074. While all form w-2s are reported under and taxes are paid through the community foundation's tax id 38-1872132, wages, benefits and related taxes are allocated and recorded between the foundation and its supporting organizations based upon the assigned responsibilities, time spent and specific work performed. All of the 9 form w-2s filed in 2019 were for programs and initiated under the core community foundation, with only one including some allocation to a grant funded initiative. Although audited financial statements reflect the consolidation of both organizations, separate form 990s are filed for each organization independently. Consequently, this common paymaster status and the existence of shared employees should be noted. At this time, while the foundation's president/ceo oversees operations and initiatives of its supporting organizations, his time and related wages/benefits are absorbed under the community foundation's operations ---that said, as related organizations, his wages/benefits must be reported under those respective supporting organizations' form 990s as well, in accordance to irs requirements.”

“To operate exclusively for, charitable, or other exempt purposes by acting for the benefit of, performing functions of, or carrying out the charitable or other exempt purposes of the community foundation of st. Clair county.”