City of Philadelphia Trustee Administering Wills Eye Institute

“Form 990 review process the wills eye committee reviews a draft of federal form 990 and the return is made available to all board members for review prior to filing with the irs.”

“Conflicts of interest conflict of interest is covered under the board of directors of city trusts conflict of interest policy and the organization's code of conduct policy. It is monitored annually. The conflict of interest policy requires, among other things, that directors, officers, and key employees disclose conflicts and potential conflicts and that interested parties not participate in any vote to consider a transaction that might constitute a conflict.”

“Determining compensation annually, the compensation committee, one of the committees of the board of directors of city trusts, meets to review the performance of top management and other key employees. Compensation will be reviewed and adjusted annually. The review processes include a complete analysis and review by the independent subcommittee based on comparability data. This review is documented and approved annually in a timely manner.”

“Availability of other documents the organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available to the public upon request.”

“Organization's mission wills eye is a health system specializing in ophthalmic care that provides inpatient and outpatient hospital services, professional medical services, graduate and continuing medical education, and clinical and basic research.”

“Organization's mission established in 1832 as a gift from james wills, a philadelphia merchant, to the city of philadelphia, wills eye's mission is to provide excellence in ophthalmic care to the community in need. Wills eye advances this mission through compassionate clinical care for patients, scientific discovery, and educating future leaders of ophthalmology.”

“Program service accomplishment health care provider: provides health care to individuals on an inpatient and outpatient basis. Physicians of the organization volunteered their time performing eye exams and eye surgeries at no charge. The organization hosted periodic diabetes screening events, community screening and patient education events, and a kids sight day where more than a seven hundred screenings were conducted and children received eye glasses at no charge. The wills eye vision screening program for children was established with the school district of philadelphia to conduct in-school vision screenings for children in grades k-5, provide free glasses to children with refractive error, and help children with suspected non-refractive eye disease(s) to be evaluated by an ophthalmologist. The majority of the chosen schools are located in underserved areas of philadelphia. 460 children were screened and 221 received free eye glasses. 17 children had undiagnosed medical conditions that required follow-up at wills eye hospital. In addition, wills eye leads a city-wide iniative to reduce preventable blindness due to diabetic disease. Furthermore, wills eye attends community events where individuals are screened and educational materials are distributed.”

“Gain from lease 674. Other (chg split int - gift annuities) 17,881. Net assets release from restriction - equipment 31,241.”

“Facts: wills eye hospital ("weh"), established in 1832 through a bequest of james wills, a quaker merchant, to the city of philadelphia, is administered by the board of directors of city trusts. Weh, located in philadelphia, is a trust that owns and operates various facilities, through various component units, which provide medical services to area residents. Weh was recognized as a public charity described in irs section 501(c)(3) in a determination letter dated november 15, 1977. Weh's exempt purpose is to provide excellence in ophthalmic care to the community in need. Weh began transitioning its financial statement reporting under financial accounting standards board (fasb) to governmental accounting standards board (gasb) in its fiscal year ended june 30, 2022. Weh's relationship with the city of philadelphia was reevaluated and determined under the u.s. Generally accepted accounting principles that the audit should be conducted in accordance with gasb. The conversion from reporting under fasb to gasb required additional time to audit and report accurate and complete financial statements. There are different accounting principles and specific reporting differences (e.g. Lease accounting) that needed to be reviewed and updated. A third-party was engaged to assist weh in this manner given the complexity and technical expertise required. As a result, weh's financial statements for the year ended june 30, 2023 were not issued until may 23, 2024. This delay, in turn, impacted the timing of the financial statements for the year ended june 30, 2024, which were not issued until june 27, 2025, about a month and a half after the extended due date for weh's 2023 form 990. Given the proximity of the date the financial statements were issued to the extended due date for the 2023 form 990, it would have been unreasonable for weh to file a 2023 form 990 based on un-audited financial statements because of the likelihood that such a form 990 would need to be amended within months of filing. Weh has a record of exercising ordinary care and business prudence. Weh has consistently engaged qualified third-party tax preparers to provide guidance and assistance with meeting all filing obligations. Weh has a history of voluntarily meeting its filing and reporting obligations, and late filing was not willful in any way, and due to circumstances beyond weh's control. In addition, weh promptly met its filing obligation after its financial statements for the tax year were issued. Weh exhibited actions consistent with the diligence expected of weh and has taken every prudent effort to meet its reporting obligations. These facts clearly demonstrate weh acted with ordinary care and business prudence, thus meeting the reasonable cause standard. Weh actively sought to meet all filing obligations and it was only due to transitioning its financial statement reporting under fasb to gasb that necessitated more time needed to audit and report accurate and complete financial statements, which are needed to file accurate and complete forms 990. Reasonable cause circumstances beyond weh's control: pursuant to statement no. 76 of the governmental accounting standards board, hierarchy of generally accepted accounting principles for state and local governements, weh was required to change its financial statement reporting from fasb to gasb because of its quasi governmental nature. Wills eye's board, created by the legislature of the commonwealth of pennsylvania, is an agency of the commonwealth, and its members are appointed by the judges of the courts of common pleas of philadelphia. Since the board is an agency of the commonwealth, wills eye is deemed to be a governmental entity, and as a result, subject to the gasb reporting standards as determined by its independent auditors. This transition required weh's third-party auditors to spend more time to issue accurate and complete financial statements, resulting in weh's financial statements for its fiscal year endin”