New Jersey State Bar Foundation

“The organization's federal form 990 was provided to each voting member of its governing body (its board of trustees) prior to filing with the internal revenue service ("irs"). In addition the organization's finance and operations committee performed a detailed review of the federal form 990 prior to providing it to each voting member of its board of trustees. The organization's board of trustees has delegated the finance and operations committee the responsibility to oversee and coordinate the federal form 990 preparation, review and filing process. As part of the organization's federal form 990 tax return preparation process, the organization hired a professional cpa firm with experience and expertise in not-for-profit tax return preparation to prepare the federal form 990. The cpa firm's tax professionals worked closely with various individuals of the organization to obtain the information needed in order to prepare a complete and accurate tax return. The cpa firm prepared a draft federal form 990 and furnished it to the organization's internal working group for their review. The organization's internal working group reviewed the draft federal form 990 and discussed questions and comments with the cpa firm. Revisions were made to the draft federal form 990 where necessary and a final draft was furnished by the cpa firm to the organization's internal working group for final review and approval. The final form 990 was then presented to the members of the organization's finance and operations committee. Following the finance and operations committee's review the final federal form 990 was provided to each voting member of the organization's governing body prior to filing with the irs.”

“The organization is an affiliate of new jersey state bar assosication ("association"); a related internal revenue code section 501(c)(6) tax-exempt organization. The organization has a written conflict of interest policy which it regularly monitors and enforces compliance. The policy requires that a conflict of interest disclosure form consistent with best governance practices and internal revenue service guidelines be circulated to officers, trustees, and key employees annually. The association's legal counsel assumes responsibility for the completion of the conflict of interest questionnaires and enforcement with the policy. If an individual discloses an interest that could give rise to a conflict, the individual's potential conflict is disclosed to the board of trustees, which evaluates the conflict and its potential impact on the individual's participation on the board. After consultation and discussion, the board of trustees may take action, if appropriate and necessary, to address any such conflict in a manner consistent with the organization's conflict of interest policy.”

“The organization is an affiliate of new jersey state bar assosication ("association"); a related internal revenue code section 501(c)(6) tax-exempt organization. The association's board of trustees has an executive committee ("committee"). The committee has adopted a written executive compensation policy which it follows when it reviews and approves of the compensation and benefits of the organization's executive director. The committee reviews the "total compensation" of the individual which is intended to include both current and deferred compensation and all employee benefits. The committee's review is done on at least an annual basis and ensures that the "total compensation" of the executive director is reasonable. The actions taken by the committee enable the organization to receive the rebuttable presumption of reasonableness for purposes of internal revenue code section 4958 with respect to the total compensation of its executive director. The three factors which must be satisfied in order to receive the rebuttable presumption of reasonableness are the following: 1. The compensation arrangement is approved in advance by an "authorized body" of the applicable tax-exempt organization which is composed entirely of individuals who do not have a "conflict of interest" with respect to the compensation arrangement; 2. The authorized body obtained and relied upon "appropriate data as to comparability" prior to making its determination; and 3. The authorized body "adequately documented the basis for its determination" concurrently with making that determination. The committee is comprised of members of the board of trustees each of whom are independent and are free from any conflicts of interest. The committee relied upon appropriate comparable data; specifically the committee utilizes industry comparables and performs in-house studies of executive compensation. The committee adequately documented its basis for its determination through the timely preparation of written minutes of the executive committee meetings during which the executive compensation and benefits was reviewed and subsequently approved.”

“The organization's filed certificate of incorporation and any amendments can be obtained and reviewed through the state of new jersey department of treasury. In addition, the organization's governing documents, including its conflict of interest policy and audited financial statements, are made available to the public upon request.”

“Certain board of trustee members, officers and/or directors listed on core form, part vii and schedule j of this form 990 may hold similar positions with both this organization and new jersey state bar association; a related organization. The hours shown on this form 990, for board members who receive no compensation for services rendered in a non-board capacity, represent the estimated hours devoted per week for this organization. To the extent these individuals serve as a member of the board of trustees of the association, their respective hours per week per organization are approximately the same as reflected on this form 990. The hours reflected on part vii of this form 990, for the paid officer, reflect total hours worked per week on behalf of this organization and the association; not solely this organization.”

“An independent cpa firm audited the financial statements of new jersey state bar foundation for the years ended june 30, 2015 and june 30, 2014; respectively and issued a financial statement. An unqualified opinion was issued each year by the independent cpa firm. The organization's finance and operations committee assumes responsibility for oversight of the audit of the organization's financial statements and the selection of an independent auditor.”