Advocate Charitable Foundation

“Discretionary committee the president of acf is a member of the board of directors, but does not have a vote. The bylaws provide for discretionary committee formation, but do not specifically identify an executive committee or similar committee with broad authority to act on behalf of the board. No such executive committee held authority at any time during 2019.”

“Business relationships as earl barnes, james doheny and dominic nakis are either directors or officers of wholly owned advocate entities, they are deemed to have a business relationship pursuant to the instructions for form 990.”

“Bylaws bylaws provided for corporate members.”

“Advocate health care network is parent corporation under its bylaws, advocate charitable foundation has advocate health care network, a 501(c)(3) illinois charity, as its "sole member". Advocate health care network is the ultimate parent corporation for the not-for-profit corporations of advocate health care including the foundation.”

“Ahcn has reserve powers over acf the following reserve powers identified in the bylaws require the approval of the corporate member, advocate health care network: approval of enactments/amendments of bylaws; approval of mission statements and their amendments; appointments to the foundation board including designation of officers who are ex officio; removal of members of the foundation board; appointment of the chair of the foundation board; appointment of the president of the foundation; approval, before it becomes effective, of any cessation of operations of the foundation; approval of all operating and capital budgets of the foundation; and approval of any changes to the goals and programmatic objectives of the foundation.”

“Review of form 990 advocate's tax preparation process includes ongoing consultation with its outside tax consulting firm and tax legal counsel, both of which possess expertise in health care and tax-exempt return preparation, to advise and assist with preparation of the form 990. These advisors worked closely with the organization's finance, tax, and legal associates and other members of the organization's team assembled to participate in the preparation of the form 990. The form 990 is reviewed by finance management, the tax manager, the vp of tax & accounting services and advocate's outside tax consulting firm and tax legal counsel. The organization's team, including its advisors, met frequently to discuss and review drafts of the form 990. A complete copy of the final form 990 was provided to each member of the organization's board of directors before the form 990 was filed.”

“Conflict of interest disclosure the organization's conflict of interest policy applies to various people, including members of advocate's board of directors, governing councils, officers, associates, volunteers, and medical staff members with administrative responsibilities. Annually, the compliance department sends this policy and the advocate code of business conduct to a range of individuals who may be in a position to exercise substantial interest over a particular matter (defined as "interested persons"). They are required to read the policies and provide a disclosure statement to the compliance department, which identifies activities and relationships that could potentially give rise to a conflict of interest. The chief compliance officer reviews the disclosures and provides a report to the system business conduct (compliance) committee, executive management team and the audit committee of the board for review. The report is then provided, in relevant part, to the site chief executive officers. Potential conflicts are reviewed by the compliance department on a case by case basis. Follow up procedures conducted are unique to the given circumstance, and may include reviewing the potential conflict with the interested person's supervisor and/or site management. In circumstances where the interested person is not a member of the board, or governing council, or a committee thereof, or a person of interest, if it is determined that there is an actual conflict of interest, the supervisor of the individual is responsible for making an appropriate response, potentially including a restriction of the individual's job duties with respect to the matter giving rise to the conflict.”

“Executive compensation strategy executive compensation at advocate health care network and subsidiaries is based on a board of directors' approved strategy that guides the corporation in establishing compensation opportunities for executives, managers, professionals and all employees. In this strategy, specific market comparisons are identified and the desired level of competitiveness in those markets specified. In addition, linkage of executive pay to performance is articulated and how this relationship is to be maintained is outlined. To support and implement the compensation strategy, five basic elements are utilized. These elements are: - a solid, reliable and tested job evaluation methodology; - accurate, quality and relevant compensation survey information; - a consistent annual process for updating the compensation levels; - an active board review process including review by a compensation committee that ensures compliance with the compensation strategy and on-going review of the performance of the organization, and - active, external review and auditing of compensation by external independent consultants.”

“Availability to the public the organization makes its financial statements available to the public through the following websites: dacbond.com (digital assurance certification llc) emma.msrb.org (electronic municipal market access) the organization does not make its governing documents or conflict of interest policy available to the public.”

“Current employees responsible for acf the following individuals are employees of advocate health & hospitals corporation and generally work 40 hours per week. Approximately 5 hours of their regular work week are spent providing services to related organizations; james skogsbergh, james doheny, mary s. Matthews, dominic j. Nakis.”

“Government grants the advocate charitable foundation endeavors to raise philanthropic funds for the use of advocate health care network and its not-for-profit subsidiaries, the results of which are recorded as direct public support in part viii lines 1a to 1h of the advocate charitable foundation form 990. The advocate charitable foundation also participates in sourcing and writing grant proposals to government entities for advocate health care network and its not-for-profit subsidiaries, the results of which are recorded as direct public support in part viii line 1e on the form 990 of the not-for-profit subsidiary which was granted the award.”

“Fundraising expenses incurred by acf are reimbursed by ahcn as advocate charitable foundation incurs its expenses to raise both philanthropic and other funding for the advocate health care network and its not-for-profit subsidiaries, and as advocate health care network has either paid for these expenses directly or indirectly through reimbursements to advocate charitable foundation in the past, it is anticipated that the advocate charitable foundation will be reimbursed by these organizations for the management and general fundraising expenses in the future.”

“Allocation of foundation staff salaries and benefits some foundation staff assist advocate and its programs in the use of restricted gifts. A portion of their salaries and benefits (lines 5 and 10) are allocated to program service expenses. Similarly, some foundation staff assist advocate in the accounting and investment management of funds held by the foundation for the benefit of advocate's programs. A portion of their salaries and benefits (lines 5 and 10) are allocated to management and general expenses.”

“Grants and other assistance grants and other assistance include a) use of restricted gifts, b) receipts of unrestricted gifts, and c) investment income on restricted and unrestricted funds transferred to the beneficiary charities. Advocate health and hospitals corporation includes eight hospitals and a number of system-wide community health programs. See part iii of the ahhc form 990 and the related narrative for more information on uses of gifts.”

“Allocation of expenses the schedule follows the past practice of considering certain types of expenses as management and general expenses (line 11b legal, line 13 office (bank fees), line 16 occupancy, line 19 conference, line 22 depreciation), but as the foundation's primary role is as a fundraising organization, all of those expenses were made in furtherance of fundraising. Legal expenses were all related to structuring and reviewing complex trust/estate gifts.”

“Total functional expenses the foundation's management, general, and fund-raising expenses are reimbursed by advocate health care. This allows 100% of every contribution to be used for the purpose specified by the donor.”

“Fair value of assets acquired -1,698.”