Make-A-Wish Foundation of Orange County

“The organization works with an independent public accounting firm engaged to prepare the return. The draft return prepared by the accounting firm will be reviewed by the foundation's finance committee and audit committee. A complete copy of the final return will be provided to all voting members of the governing board subsequent to the committees' approval, prior to filing with the internal revenue service.”

“The organization maintains a conflict of interest and ethics statement employee and volunteer. Such statements must be signed upon date of hire, election, or commencement of volunteer service, and annually thereafter. The signed statements are then submitted to and reviewed by the volunteer manager if they are from volunteers, by the coo & the ceo if from staff, and by the ceo if from the board members. Review of the statements is monitored by the coo. The procedures for addressing any conflicts of interest of which the ceo becomes aware includes, but are not limited to, the following (1) determining the nature of the conflict via verbal or written communication with the interested person, (2) fully disclosing conflicting interested to the board (3) the conflicted person recuses himself/herself from deliberations and decisions regarding the transaction, and (4) taking appropriate actions warranted by the conflict as recommended by the board up to and including termination of service.”

“For 2019 compensation, the president/ceo's compensation was determined by the board of directors, consisting of independent persons. It was reviewed against national benchmarking salary studies, surveys done every few years by make-a-wish foundation of america, and by local salary surveys conducted by state organizations and by national benchmarking organizations. The boards discussions and decisions were contemporaneously documented. The documentation of the decision includes (a) the terms of the transaction that was approved and the date it was approved, (b) the members of the committee who were present during debate on the transaction that was approved and those who voted on it, and (c) the comparability data obtained and relied upon by the committee and how the data was obtained. Form 990, part vi, line 15b: the same process listed above is used for other staff, using the same instruments. Salaries for staff other than the president/ceo are decided by the president/ceo in consultation with the employee's immediate supervisor within limits set by the board-approved budget. All salary increases are based on metrics from performance reviews.”

“While federal tax laws do not mandate that the organization's governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements be made available for public inspection, the organization makes its audited financial statements and form 990 available upon request and on its website. Governing documents and conflict of interest policies are also available upon request with inspection at an office of the organization.”

“Make-a-wish foundation of orange county and the inland empire, inc. Grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy at no cost to the families. For the fiscal year ending august 31, 2020, the foundation granted 200 wishes. The foundation, through the generosity of donors, granted almost one life changing wish per day. The total cost of wishes granted for the fiscal year was $1,789,346. Of this amount, $480,187 was contributed by various vendors who provided in-kind contributions such as travel and travel services, transportation, lodging, and other services and use of facilities to complete a child's wish. For financial statement purposes, these amounts are included as contribution revenue and granted wish expense. For form 990, however, the irs requires the $480,187 of contributed in-kind services and use of facilities to be excluded from both revenue and expense. For the fiscal year ending august 31, 2020, 245 volunteers provided more than 6,100 hours, whose financial impact would be more than $95,000 of donated time based on the value of volunteer time as calculated by the independent sector (https://independentsector.org). This contribution is also excluded from the revenue and expenses presented in this 990. The inclusion of these in-kind donations and volunteer hours would materially impact the program ratio. Together, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. During the fiscal year ending august 31, 2020, the covid-19 pandemic impacted the services provided by the foundation. The ability to provide the life changing wishes to the children with life threatening medical conditions was severly hampered due to the medical conditions of the children and the volatility of the covid-19 virus. As a result of the health concerns of the children, the number of wishes was significantly decreased during the fiscal year. The foundation has continued to monitor the covid-19 pandemic as it relates to the wish children. The foundation will resume wish granting at the pre-covid-19 pandemic level when and only when it is safe to do so. The health and safety of the wish children is the foundation's first priority.”

“The $295,805 represents the first draw of the paycheck protection program. The amount drawn was used to cover current employees, benefits and rent. The amount drawn is currently shown as a loan. However, the paperwork to request forgiveness has since been sent to the sba and forgiveness of the loan has been granted in march 2021. Therefore, the amount of this loan is no longer on the balance sheet effective march 31, 2021.”

“Change in split-interest agreements 10,581.”