American Bar Endowment

“The members of the abe are the persons who constitute the members in good standing of the american bar association.”

“Annually, two of the elected members of the abe board are elected by the members of the abe to hold office for a term of five years. Two other members of the board are appointed annually by the aba's board of governors for a term of one year.”

“Amendments to the bylaws of the abe must be approved by a majority vote of the members of the abe present at any annual meeting of the members.”

“The form 990 is sent to all the members of the board of directors for review.”

“All abe board members must annually complete a conflicts of interest questionnaire. All completed questionnaires are reviewed by the full board of directors. Should a potential conflict arise, the board reviews the individual instance for materiality and the need for, or nature of cure. Prior to election to the board, conflicts checks are conducted by the law firms of the potential board members. (all members of the board are lawyers.)”

“Abe's annual report, including financials, is posted on its website (www.abendowment.org) and is published in the november issue of the aba journal. The 990's are available on guidestar and are on file with the various states where the organization is registered. Other corporate documents, such as bylaws and conflicts policy are available upon request.”

“Abe changed auditors for its fy 2019 audit and several accounting standards were brought to its attention by the new auditing firm during the course of its audit, one of which had not been identified by the previous auditors even though they rendered an unqualified opinion. Previous auditors provided clean audit opinions that abe's financial statements conformed with generally accepted accounting principles ("gaap standards"). The management of the abe relies upon its auditors to bring to its attention all relevant issues with its financial statements under those standards. Applying gaap standards, the new auditors recommended a necessary restatement of the recording of grant obligations from a cash basis to an accrual basis, resulting in a fiscal year 2019 expense for grant obligations to be paid in fiscal year 2020, and a decrease in net assets by the amount of the previous year's (fy 2018) grant obligations. Going forward, only the annual grant expense will occur. The previous auditing firm confirmed to abe management and the current auditor its agreement with the appropriateness of this change. The abe received an unqualified opinion for its current year audit.”