Institute for Democratic Education in America Inc

“One of the Board member and an employee, Melia Dicker, is married to Darren Schwindaman of Creative Distillery, the entity IDEA used for the majority of its creative and web design work during this fiscal year. IDEA has an arms length agreement with Creative Distillery which outlined the services provided by Creative Distillery.”

“The tax return is prepared by an outside accounting firm. After completion of said returns, the organization is sent a draft of the tax returns to be reviewed and examined. The organization makes copies of the returns and distributes to those individuals charged with governance. Those individuals at that time can review and if applicable discuss any line items in the return with the accountant who has prepared the return. If all items are found to be acceptable, an authorization is signed and provided to authorize the outside accounting firm to process, sign and provide copies of the returns to be filed (paper or electronically) with the designated governmental agencies. The tax returns are then signed by the organization, stamped and mailed with certified return receipt or the signed form 8879 is provided to the outside accounting firm allowing electronic filing.”

“On an ongoing basis and at board meeetings conflicts of interest are expected to be raised. Board members sign a board agreement restating their responsibilities to follow the conflict of interest policy of the organization.”

“The Executive Director's compensation is set by the board of directors which is connected by an annual review of the Executive Director's peformance.”

“Federal Tax Returns are available at guidestar.org & charitynavigator.org.”

“Governing documents are available for public inspection at the principal place of business.The conflict of interest policy and the organization's financial statements are available upon request.”

“OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: Program Area 4: Communications & Narrative Change. IDEA engages locally and nationally to shift the education narrative towards protecting public education; centering the voices of youth, educators, parents, and communities; and focusing on the power and possibility of education rooted in justice, democracy, and meaningful engagement. In 2017-2018 IDEA continued collaborating with the Shared Story initiative of the Partnership for the Future of Learning to share films and engage in media campaigns to shift the education narrative.”