Ohio State University Foundation

“Before the Form 990 is filed, it is reviewed by the Audit Committee of the Board. Prior to being filed the Form 990 is made available to all board members for comments.”

“Board members and key employees are required to disclose conflicts of interest on an annual conflict of interest questionnaire. Foundation staff review the questionnaires and, if a potential conflict of interest exits, all material facts are presented either to the full board or a committee who review the facts and determine whether a conflict of interest exists.”

“The organization's top management official is an employee of The Ohio State University and his salary is determined according to Ohio State University policies and procedures. The Board of Pelotonia, the disregarded entity reported in Schedule R, gathered comparability data and reviewed that prior to determining the total compensation of the key employees. The key employees are not Board members of the organization or Pelotonia. Compensation discussions were held in executive session of the Pelotonia Board and documented.”

“The governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are available upon request.”

“For Pelotonia LLC, the disregarded entity reported in Schedule R, the majority of gross fundraising income is comprised of (1) the operating funds pledged by the corporate funding partners, (2) the registration fees paid by the riders, (3) interest earned on cash balances and (4) the donations raised by Pelotonia's riders, virtual riders, PULLL app users and volunteers. With regard to the first category, the corporate funding partners underwrite Pelotonia's annual operating expenses, including all staff, office, event and technology costs as well as all of the costs of processing the donations raised by the riders, virtual riders and volunteers. Often these corporate funding partners make a multi-year pledge to underwrite operating expenses each year for a designated number of years; however, the total amount of the multi-year pledge is booked on an accrual basis and held as a receivable. With regard to the second category, riders pay non-tax deductible registration fees that are also used to defray Pelotonia's operating costs. With regard to the third category, Pelotonia cash balances are invested in FDIC insured money market accounts until the cash is needed. With regard to the fourth category, riders and virtual riders each agree to a minimum fundraising commitment that is satisfied through donations received by or made by the riders and virtual riders. The PULLL and Ride donations are deposited and maintained in an account that is entirely separate from Pelotonia's operating account and 100% of these donations are directed to The Ohio State University Foundation to fund cancer research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and James Cancer Hospital. Because Pelotonia's fundraising period for each of its events starts in December of one year and ends in November of the next year, the donations reported on the 990 in any particular fiscal year actually represent donations raised for two different Pelotonia events - i.e. donations for the event that was ongoing between July and November of a particular year and the donations for the event that was ongoing between December and June of the next year.”

“As noted in Part 1, Line 1, the organization is operated for the benefit of The Ohio State University; however, based on the definition of "related" in the instructions to the Form 990, the organization and The Ohio State University are not related. The organization is not a supporting organization under IRC 509(a)(3). It maintains its public charity status under IRC 509(a)(1). Also, the University does not appoint a majority of the organization's directors. All of the information in Schedule R or in other parts of the Form 990 for related organizations is available from The Ohio State University upon request.”

“$15,051,289 is the cumulative effect of Pelotonia LLC, the disregarded entity reported in Schedule R, merged out of existence on February 3, 2020. It's assets, liabilities and activities were transferred to a new Pelotonia 501(c)(3) organization, which is a blended component unit of The Ohio State University. The audited financial statements are presented as if the merger of old and new Pelotonia were effective at the beginning of fiscal year 2020.”