The Luzerne Foundation

“The executive committee, which is comprised of the board chairperson, vice-chairperson, secretary, treasurer, three selected board members and one board member emeritus, deals with confidential matters such as setting the president/ceo's salary and his annual review. The executive committee also conducts the budget review before it is ratified by the full board.”

“The president and ceo, cfo, and the executive committee review the full form 990 in its entirety prior to filing. A public inspection copy is then is provided to the full board of directors for review. Once the full board has had access to the return, the form 990 is filed with the internal revenue service.”

“Annually, the luzerne foundation distributes conflict of interest forms to the board of directors so that the information held on file is current. The conflict of interest policy explicitly mentions that family and business relationships may be a source of conflict. Each director, principal officer and member of a committee with board-delegated powers is required to sign a statement which affirms that they have received a copy of the conflict of interest policy; have read and understand the policy; have agreed to comply with the policy; understand the duty of each officer or director to maintain and preserve the confidentiality of board and committee discussions and protect privacy at all times; and understand that the corporation is a charitable organization and that to maintain its tax-exempt status it must engage primarly in activities that accomplish one or more of its tax-exempt purposes. These forms are reviewed by the audit and governance committees. Any conflict of interest that is identified is reviewed at the board of directors meeting on a case-by-case basis and is documented in the board meeting minutes. Should a conflict arise, the conflicted person may make a presentation to the board, but then must leave the meeting during deliberations. Alternative transactions may be investigated. If a more advantageous transaction cannot be found, the board, composed of only disinterested people, may decide whether the transaction is in the best interest of the organization and reach a decision based upon those standards.”

“Annual compensation reviews are conducted by the president and ceo, director of operations, and adminstrative support staff. In addition, the president and ceo and the director of operations are also reviewed annually. As a matter of practice, the foundation's executive committee sets the president's salary and benefits. The president and ceo then set the support staff's salary and benefits. In advance of the president and ceo review, the executive committee receives a comprehensive ceo review form that surveys seven key areas of performance: board relations, staff planning and oversight, public relations and foundation development, grants management, fiscal management, personal characteristics, and institutional vision. Each executive committee member rates the candidate on a scale of consistently excellent to below expectations, and is encouraged to provide additional feedback in the comments section of the review form. In addition, general observation questions are posed to solicit feedback and proposed new ideas for the future. The information obtained on the forms is compiled and discussed among the executive committee members, and is documented in the minutes. Once a collective decision is reached by the executive committee, the chairman of the executive committee reports and discusses the outcome with the president and ceo. To assist in the determination of the ceo's compensation package, additional materials and handouts are provided through the council on foundations, (a resource for community foundations and philanthropic entities). These handouts include comparable salaries for other community foundations.”

“Governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and audited financial statements are available to the public upon request. In addition, a statement of financial position is made available in the annual "community guide" of the foundation. The 990 is available to the public on the foundation's website or upon request.”

“Robert korjeski, cpa, is the chief financial officer of the organization. He does not have board voting privileges. For form 990 reporting purposes, he has been identified as an officer on part vii of this form 990. Fees for services provided by mr. Korjeski to the luzerne foundation are paid to a corporation of which mr. Korjeski is the 100% stockholder. Fees paid for these services were $13,900 for the 2024 year.”

“Change in value of remainder trust 209,223.”