Community Foundations of the Hudson

“The foundations has its form 990 prepared by an outside accounting firm and has established the following review process to ensure that the information is complete and accurate. Management confers with the outside accounting firm in the preparation of the form 990. Once the form 990 has been prepared, management reviews it with the outside accounting firm. It is then presented to the audit committee for review and subsequently to the board of trustees for approval. Once the board has approved the return it is filed with the irs.”

“A. The foundations' code of conduct (code) which includes our conflict of interest policy applies to the following members of the community: 1) individuals who are paid by the foundations when they are working for the foundations, including officers and staff; 2) consultants, vendors, and contractors when they are doing business with the foundations; 3) trustees; 4) advisory board members; and 5) individuals who perform services for the foundations as volunteers. The code refers to all these persons collectively as "members of the foundations' community or "community members." b. Staff, board and volunteers must read and execute a confirmation and disclosure as a part of the conflict of interest policy each year. A potential conflicts review is conducted annually for trustees and staff and monitored by the governance committee of the board of trustees annually and by staff on an ongoing basis throughout the year with respect to grant review and contractual relationships. Review of conflicts by volunteers is monitored by staff on an ongoing basis through the grant review process. C. Annual disclosures statements are filed and collected. The advisory boards and all committee volunteers execute them annually at the time of grant reviews. D. Procedures for conflicts require the conflicted community member to disclose the conflict in writing, recuse themselves from decision making on the matter, forgo participation in discussion on the topic and abstain from votes. Conflicts are documented in minutes of decision making boards and committees.”

“The executive committee interviews the board of trustees to evaluate the president & ceo. Once completed, the results are compiled by the executive chair of the board or trustee as designated. Compensation is set by the executive committee. Information used to make this recommendation includes amount available in the approved operating budget, experience of the president & ceo, and compensation data from the council on foundations for similar sized community foundations nationally and regionally. Local and regional nonprofit compensation data is also considered where available. The procedure used to recommend and approve compensation must be captured in the minutes of the board of trustees meetings. The last review of the president & ceo was conducted in q1 of 2025. Compensation for staff has two components: cost of living and performance for fy2025. An overall cost of living percentage for each fiscal year is approved by the board of trustees as part of the annual operating budget process. Cost of living increases were given in july. (this procedure will be changing in fy 2026, and cost of living increases will no longer be given.) performance increases are determined by the president & ceo, based on annual evaluations of staff performance. Compensation data from the council on foundations and other regional data is referenced. A gross pool for bonuses and performance increases is approved by the board as a part of the annual operating budget. Annual staff performance reviews are conducted with salary adjustments made on the one-year anniversary of the last increase in salary or a change in title. (this will also be changing in fy 2026.) a salary leveling project was done in fy 2025, to bring staff up to current peer comps.”

“The foundations makes its form 990 available for public inspection as required under section 6104 of the internal revenue code. The return is posted on guidestar.org and other similar types of websites. The return and financial statements are available on the organization's website. In addition, the financial statements, conflict of interest policy, articles of incorporation and by-laws are also available upon written request or by calling the organization directly.”

“The organization contracted with a professional employer organization (peo) for services, including but not limited to, payroll, timekeeping, employee benefits, hr administration and workforce regulatory compliance needs. As the employer of record for tax purposes, forms w2 and w3 are issued by the peo and filed under the peo's federal ein. In this coemployment arrangement, the organization is the common law employer and, accordingly, compensation is reported on form 990, part vii, section a and part ix, lines 5-10.”

“Change in value of life insurance policies -18,263. Change in value of charitable remainder annuity trusts -86,037. Reclassification of agency fund to net assets 75,355.”

“The foundations has a committee that is responsible for the oversight of the audit of its financial statements and selection of an independent accountant. The process has not changed from the prior year.”

“The organization has the following dbas: community foundation of putnam county community foundation of dutchess county community foundation of ulster county ulster county community foundation the area fund of dutchess county the area fund of orange county”