Mdrc

“990 review process the form 990 review process at mdrc includes an internal review by mdrc's senior vice president/chief financial officer and president, as well as external review by grant thornton. The form 990 is then reviewed by the audit committee of the board of directors. The full board is provided with a copy of the form 990 prior to its being filed with the irs. The full board discusses the form 990 post-filing at its scheduled annual meeting in december.”

“Conflict of interest policy enforcement & monitoring directors and offficers are required to complete and sign an annual conflict of interest disclosure statement. The statements are reviewed by the corporate secretary and the president for actual or possible conflicts of interest. If any is disclosed, or inferred, these actual or possible conflicts of interest are brought to the attention of the chairman of the board. In response, the chairman might convene a group of disinterested directors to discuss and address the conflict. All employees, including officers who are also staff members and key employees, are required to read and sign a code of ethics, which includes information about conflicts of interest. Annually, each employee must sign a statement disclosing the presence or absence of conflicts of interest on behalf of the employee and family members. Failure to do so can result in disciplinary action up to and including termination. These statements are reviewed by the human resources department and, as appropriate, by counsel for a determination regarding action that should follow the reporting of an actual or potential conflict. In addition to the required annual report, all employees are instructed by the code of ethics that they have a responsibility to report a violation of the code. Employees can report any such violation to mdrc supervisory personnel, the human resources department, or to an independent organization, lighthouse services, which hosts an online site and toll-free number which employees can use to make complaints anonymously or in identifiable form.”

“Process for determining compensation the finance and compensation committee ("the committee") of mdrc's board of directors establishes each year the compensation and bonus payments, if any, for the top paid and next two top paid officers of the organization based on survey information provided to them from both internal and external sources. The individuals are messrs berlin, amadeo, and ivry. Each year mdrc's human resources function conducts a review of form 990's and other documents of research organizations that perform similar research as mdrc, to ascertain their pay structures for the top and second top paid officers - typically the ceo or president and the coo/cfo. Included in this survey is the base salary and bonus payments made to the top and second top paid executives of these other policy research firms, along with such comparable factors as size of the organization as measured by headcount and operating budgets. This survey information is supplemented by comparable information provided from an external, third party consulting firm called the national think tank compensation survey (nttc) conducted by akron incorporated, a washington dc based compensation consulting firm. The nttc compiles the base salary and any bonus payment information provided by survey participants and displays the information anonymously by quartile, location, and firm size (stated in terms of employees and budget). Survey participant include competing policy research organizations, as well as foundations, endowments, and universities. In 2015, mercer consulting was contracted to conduct a comparison of compensation for executives based on an analysis of information reported on forms 990. The results of both the in-house and external surveys and comparison of form 990's for those comparable non-for-profit organizations are presented to the committee, which then deliberates, and based on the information provided, establishes the pay level for mdrc's president, chief financial officer, and development & external affairs senior vice president. The compensation of the president and the chief financial officer is approved by the board.”

“Process for determining compensation the committee establishes compensation levels for the chief financial officer, as required by the california nonprofit integrity act of 2004, and for one other senior officer. Compensation for the rest of the officers and employees is based on a recommendation by the president to the committee. His recommendation establishes a merit and bonus pool for the coming year, based on the organization's standard pay practice (described below). The president sets and approves the salary level and bonus payments for officers other than the chief financial officer and the development and external affairs senior vice president, and for other key employees. Each year mdrc's president recommends to the board a salary pool for merit increases and discretionary bonuses to be paid to other officers and key employees in the organization. The merit increase and bonus pools are generally competitive within the two marketplaces in which the organization competes for human talent (new york and california). The president bases his recommendations on survey information provided by the organization's human resources department, which in turn obtains local labor market pay practices from external third party consulting firms such as mercer human resources consulting and towers perrin compensation consulting, as well as conducting a survey of pay practices from other policy research organizations. Typical merit increase pools in recent years have been in the four percent (4%) to five percent (5%) range. Once the merit increase pool has been established and approved by the board, mdrc establishes each employee's salary based on two factors: performance on the job during the most recent calendar year (mdrc uses a four tier performance rating system), and where an employees salary falls within the salary range established for their position (called a compa-ratio). Holding performance constant, mdrc's compensation system provides a greater increase in salary to those employees who are low in their salary ranges and provides smaller increases in salary to those employees who are high in their salary ranges. Salary ranges are determined by an internal job evaluation committee based on job descriptions of work performed, coupled with labor market salary information from third party sources. The same salary system is deployed for other officers, key employees, and the general employee population of the organization.”

“Availability of documents mdrc's financial statements are made available to the public through the mdrc website and a hard copy is provided upon request. Mdrc's governing documents and conflict of interest policy are generally available to the public upon request.”