Feeding Our Communities Partners

“The board of directors has an executive committee made up of the chair, vice chair, treasurer, and secretary and this committee may approve expenditures with two approving members.”

“Steve vanroekel and chris schull have a business relationship.”

“Focp delegated management of the bec community farm to blue earth county government. This delegation included the hiring and supervision of a part-time farm manager and decision making regarding the farm property and activities. The part-time farm manager received compensation prior to june 30, 2014, but focp was not billed for reimbursement until july 2014 (next fiscal year).”

“The organization's bylaws were amended to change director term limits, compensation limits, officer restrictions, and to ban loans and debt relieve for directors and officers.”

“The return is prepared by an independent accounting firm. The full return is emailed to the entire board of directors for review one week prior to the board meeting. Any questions or concerns are requested before the meeting and given further opportunity at the meeting to discuss. If the return is satisfactory, the board proposes a motion to approve and the return is submitted to the irs.”

“All board members are required to review and sign a conflict of interest disclosure agreement annually. Copies are kept on file and reviewed as needed. The governing board will determine if a conflict exists. If it is determined a conflict does exist, the individual with the conflict may make a presentation on the topic but must leave the meeting during the discussion and vote.”

“The board chair and vice chair conduct the annual performance review of the executive director. Compensation of the executive director is based on comparability data from similar nonprofits in minnesota and the immediate region (salary and benefits survey, minnesota council of nonprofits, 2010.) the board chair and vice chair recommend any salary changes for board approval. This process is conducted once per year and is recorded in the board meeting minutes and personnel file.”

“The annual report, form 1023, and previous year 990 filings are available on the organization's website. Other documents are available upon request.”

“The blue earth county community farm uses donated seed and starter plants to grow fresh, healthy produce for donation to area hunger assistance programs. The farm has been in existence since 2012 as a partnership between three rivers resource and conservation and development council, feeding our communities partners (focp), and blue earth county government. On january 1, 2014, focp took over financial management and responsibilities of the blue earth county community farm from three rivers. Three rivers dissolved as a 501(c)3 in december 2013. Monies remaining and supervision of the part-time farm manager were transferred to focp. The farm manager left on april 28, 2014, and focp tried to find another nonprofit to take over the responsibilities rather than oversee hiring another manager. Ultimately, focp is serving as fiscal host with blue earth county government serving as an agent to oversee the hiring and supervision of a part-time farm manager.”