Franciscan Ministries Inc

“Franciscan ministries, inc. Has one member which holds several reserved powers over franciscan ministries, inc. These reserved powers include, but are not limited to, the election of members of the governing body and election of officers, approval of certain financial expenditures in accordance with the policy, and approval of budgets and strategic plans; these approvals are based on recommendations from the governing body.”

“Please see explanation for part vi, line 6.”

“Please see explanation for part vi, line 6.”

“Affiliates of franciscan ministries, inc. Use a multiple-level review process on all federal and state information and tax returns to ensure accurate and timely filing for all organizations. Under the direction of the fmi accounting team, the audit firm prepares all 990's throughout the system, and works with the tax manager of ascension wisconsin (formerly wheaton franciscan healthcare / franciscan ministries) to gather and report the information needed. When complete, the return is first reviewed by the accounting director, who focuses on income statement and balance sheet items, and schedules where transactions of this type might be reported. If discrepancies are found, the item will be corrected prior to the next step in the review process. Once cleared through accounting, a sampling of returns is provided to the tax department in certain years, and the tax manager focus their review on consistency of reporting between all information returns, accuracy of tax related information, and narrative explanation of any outliers. Again, any problems or questions are investigated and corrected by the accounting department utilizing the audit firm who prepares the returns. The audit firm, upon completion of all levels of review, will schedule an appointment with the cfo, who will perform a review prior to signing the return. Once signed, the return is cleared to provide to members of the board of directors. The parent organization, wheaton franciscan services, inc. Has designated that the finance and operations committee review the regional holding company return of franciscan ministries, inc. In certain years. The 990 is explained at a high level by management representatives, and any questions or concerns that the committee has can be addressed. At a later date and prior to efiling, the full board, as well as any reportable individuals, are provided access to all 990's throughout the franciscan ministries system via an online portal.”

“Franciscan ministries, inc. And subsidiaries have adopted a conflict of interest policy. Under that policy, if at any time, an officer or director becomes aware that the board may discuss or act upon any transaction or arrangement which may have any bearing of any kind upon, or may relate in any manner to, a financial interest of the individual, the financial interest must be disclosed. All associates of the organization must disclose a potential conflict of interest at the time it arises (or beforehand if not in existence at the time of hire). The disclosures are reviewed and a determination is made as to whether a conflict of interest exists and how it might be managed. Additionally, as part of an ongoing process, conflict of interest questionnaires are sent out to all officers, directors, and other individuals in key positions using software designed to capture this information. The responses are analyzed in order to determine information on potential conflicts, as well as information on business and family relationships for purposes of answering certain questions on irs form 990. Responses to these questions are reviewed by the vice president of compliance and the manager of tax compliance, and follow up action, if any, are documented within the software. Non-responders are reminded of their outstanding disclosure requirement automatically through the software system. Responses to questions are reviewed and documented throughout this time period, which was most recently completed in march 2016 for all board members and other 990 reportables on record. Any responses requiring disclosure on form 990 are made, and monitored for all future years. At a later date, any non responder names are determined, and a letter, along with the actual conflict of interest policy, is sent to the chairperson of each board. The letter outlines the current non responders, as well as any officer or board member that has disclosed a financial interest that might pose a potential conflict of interest. Depending upon the nature of the financial interest and work done by the board, several actions may be considered - the board member with a financial interest would need to voluntarily excuse him or herself from the deliberations and/or voting on such a matter; or, if necessary, the board would determine that the subject's financial interest was an actual conflict of interest, in which case the board member would be informed by the board chairperson that he or she would not be allowed to vote in any such matters due to this real or perceived conflict of interest. Minutes of the board meeting would document this decision process, and reflect whatever action(s) are ultimately taken. The board chairperson is also required to discuss with non responders the repercussions of not responding, and require the board member to complete the annual conflict of interest disclosure questions before being allowed to continue in any board matters. If the board member refuses, the chairperson has the authority to determine the appropriate action, including, but not limited to prohibiting them from participating in deliberations, preventing them from voting, and/or removing them as a board member.”

“The filing organization has paid individuals who served as either officers or key employees during the reporting period. These individuals have the following compensation structure: the compensation for the organization's officers and key employees who are paid by the filing organization is reviewed and approved on an annual basis, as part of the wfsi executive compensation plan, by the executive committee of the wheaton franciscan services, inc. Board of directors (the "executive committee of the wfsi board"), an independent board, acting in a manner consistent with its conflicts of interest policy. The wfsi board's decision is informed by an opinion on market comparable compensation data provided to the wfsi board by an independent compensation expert. The wfsi board maintains contemporaneous documentation of the substantiation of the deliberation and decisions it makes.”

“Franciscan ministries, inc. And affiliates provide upon request certain documents including our financial statements, conflict of interest policy, and governing documents that support our tax exempt status, including, but not limited to, articles of incorporation and bylaws. Requests for information are considered on a case-by-case basis, and this process is outlined in our public disclosure policy.”

“Franciscan ministries are a controlled group of related housing ministries. As such, many employees who are at the director level or above, or who are officers and/or directors of organizations where fmi has common boards and other overlaps in committee representations, spend significant time devoted to tasks not only for the filing organization, but also for related organizations. While there is no official time study tracking that is done, it is estimated that for each employee, tasks devoted to related organizations could approximate up to 80% or more of total hours.”

“Franciscan ministries organizations are part of a controlled group of housing ministries, controlled under a common parent organization wheaton franciscan services, inc. Some of these organizations are exempt through the catholic group ruling and other organizations have a stand-alone exemption (irs determination) letter. As such, these related affiliates have certain policies and procedures that were adopted at the parent level, but are applicable to the entire controlled group of organizations. All policy and procedure matters are handled in a manner to ensure that all activities are consistent with the organization's overall exempt purposes. Please see schedule r for a full listing of all related affiliate organizations.”

“Information return of u.s. Persons with respect to certain foreign corps: under the constructive ownership rules of internal revenue code sections 958(a) and (b), the taxpayer is required to file forms 5471, information return of us persons with respect to certain foreign corporations, as a category 4 and/or 5 filer with respect to wheaton franciscan insurance company, fein #98-0691609. These filing requirements are or will be satisfied through the filing of forms 5471 with respect to the foreign corporation on the taxpayer behalf by the us taxpayers identified below who have the same filing requirement. Taxpayer name: wheaton franciscan services, inc. Address: 26 w171 roosevelt road, wheaton il 60187 fein number of us tax return with which form 5471 was filed: 36-3262111 irs service center where us tax return was or will be filed: e-filed”