Debt Education and Certification Foundation

“Doug tonne, mitchell allen and nat holt each own 25% of benbrook suites, llc. Debt education and certification foundation leased office space from benbrook suites, llc. The lease agreement was for a period of five years, beginning january 1, 2010. The foundation was released from their lease in may 2014 when the building was sold to an outside party.”

“The prepared form 990 is reviewed first by the organization's accountant, cfo and president. The prepared form 990 is then reviewed by an outside accounting consultant, blazek & vetterling, the organization's outside auditors, sproles woodard llp, and the organization's legal counsel, venable llp and polsinelli pc, before being electronically provided to each voting member of the governing body.”

“The organization has a conflict of interest policy. This policy serves to define the term "conflict of interest", to assist members of the board, officers, and key employees in identifying and disclosing such conflicts, and to minimize the impact of such conflicts on the organization and the fulfillment of its mission whenever possible. The policy is intended to supplement, but not replace, any applicable state and federal laws governing conflict of interest applicable to nonprofit and charitable organizations. Pursuant to the policy, the organization requires all board members and key employees ("covered officials") to disclose any actual or potential transaction or relationship which presents, or may present, a conflict between a covered official's obligations to the organization and his or her personal, business, or other interests. This is accomplished through an annual disclosure process and review of the organization's conflict of interest policy. This is also accomplished by the relevant individual notifying the board whenever an actual or potential conflict arises. The policy specifies procedures for the board to follow when addressing a potential conflict of interest. Under the policy, if the board determines that an actual or potential conflict of interest does exist, the board shall also determine an appropriate remedy. Such remedy may include, for example, the recusal of that individual from participating in certain matters pending before the board.”

“The foundation followed the rebuttable presumption of reasonableness under the intermediate sanctions rules set forth in the treasury regulation 53.4958-6 to establish and approve total remuneration to mr. Allen, president and ceo, and mr. Tonne, coo, for 2014. Prior to establishing the compensation to be provided to the decaf executives, the foundation obtained the services of mercer, an outside compensation consulting firm, to conduct a comprehensive market analysis. Mercer drafted an executive compensation report and recommendation letter to the board of directors' independent compensation committee for consideration during the foundation's annual meeting. The compensation committee utilized the data provided by mercer and current industry and organizational circumstances, to recommend to the board of directors, that the compensation for mr. Allen and mr. Tonne remain the same as established in prior years. The board of directors, exclusive of mr. Allen, voted and approved the recommendations by the compensation committee.”

“Debt education and certification foundation complies with the public inspection requirements of internal revenue code section 6104 by making its form 1023, application for recognition of exemption under section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code, its determination letter from the irs and the forms 990 for its three most recently completed tax periods available to the public. These documents are available for public inspection during normal business hours at its principal office. Requests for inspection of public documents may also be made by telephone or email. However, as section 6104 does not require an organization exempt under section 501(c)(3) to disclose its governing documents, conflict of interest policies, or financial statements, the foundation has chosen not to make such information available for public inspection.”