Equip for Equality Inc.

“The board retains the services of an independent cpa firm to prepare and review the organization's 990 return. Management reviews the form and then presents it to the finance committee for their review. The finance committee reviews the form 990 with the cpa firm and then approves the form. Management then provides a full copy to all voting members of the governing body for a period of comment and questions. At the end of the period, management files the form 990 with all the applicable state and federal agencies.”

“Officers, directors and key employees annually complete a conflict of interest disclosure statement as a precursor to their service to the organization. Potential conflicts are logged with and monitored by the secretary of the board.”

“The full board of directors sets the compensation of the president and ceo on an annual basis. The executive committee evaluates the president/ceo's performance and key accomplishments and outcomes achieved. The committee also collects data and information from national surveys and other accepted sources, which then guides its compensation recommendation. The executive committee presents the results of its performance review as well as its research of compensation data and makes a recommendation to the board for consideration. The full board then votes on the issue. The annual compensation of other officers and key employees is also considered on an annual basis, although it is dependent upon the financial standing of the organization. Some years, the organization has not been in a position to give a merit-based increase, a cost-of-living adjustment, or even a one-time bonus. From time-to-time, the organization may make adjustments if its salary scales are inconsistent with the prevailing trends, after reviewing comparable data and other information. For attorneys, the chicago bar association has developed a compensation philosophy and game-plan to bring the salaries of public interest attorneys employed by private, nonprofit legal service organizations into line with state agency attorneys - but implementation of this plan has been deterred by the dramatic downturn in the economy. In recent years, equip for equality has not provided its attorneys and other employees with well-deserved increases in their compensation consistent with their performance due to this situation.”

“The organization's governing documents and financial statements are available to the public, as is its conflict of interest policy, upon request.”

“The audit oversight process has not changed from the prior year.”

“As the private, not-for-profit organization designated by the governor in 1985 to administer the federally-mandated protection & advocacy system (p&a) for the state of illinois, equip for equality has statutory powers and receives funds from seven distinct federal p&a programs. The three largest programs provide base funding to safeguard the rights of: (1) individuals with developmental disabilities (padd), (2) people with serious mental illness (paimi), and (3) all other individuals with a disability as defined by the americans with disabilities act (pair), respectively. As the independent organization empowered by congress to safeguard and advance the rights of individuals with all types of disabilities, equip for equality relies on federal padd, paimi, and pair and other p&a funds as a foundation for its role as the state's leading cross-disability advocacy organization. Furthermore, its designation as the p&a system for the state of illinois carries with it broad federal statutory powers essential to performing its primary roles as a legal advocate and independent watchdog. Legal powers include the right to enter, unannounced, public and private institutions and community-based residential facilities and day programs, schools, unlicensed board-and-care facilities, and other settings that provide care or treatment to individuals with disabilities; to talk with individuals served and staff; and to access facility and individual clinical records in accordance with federal and state p&a laws. P&a authority includes the right to investigate allegations of abuse, neglect, and deaths and to examine all records of investigations conducted by facilities or the state. This authority ensures that padd, paimi, pair, and other p&a programs can reach out to underserved individuals who are isolated in segregated settings and unable to call for help. It should be noted that the majority of individuals with disabilities qualify for pair, which represents under 20% of the federal p&a funds received by equip for equality. This means that we need to raise substantial funds from private and other public sources to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of limited legal advocacy services and to perform other critical p&a responsibilities. A legal needs research study conducted in illinois found that when a low-income household includes a member with a disability, their legal needs increase from 49% to 74% during a one-year period. Interestingly, the highest legal need among low-income families was for representation on education issues (50% of these families needed assistance with special education), where 92% of such needs went unmet annually. As the legal needs study demonstrates, equip for equality does not have sufficient resources to ensure that the legal needs of low-income individuals with disabilities are met. Two years ago, we launched the equality for kids campaign to solicit contributions from individuals, law firms, and businesses. These new funds assisted us in our launching of a new special education clinic to provide critical self-help legal advice and strategies as well as representation at school meetings and administrative hearings. To support the documented need for legal services for students in special education, equip for equality established a new pro bono initiative in partnership with chicago's leading law firms. These volunteer attorneys, along with our in-house attorneys, have greatly expanded our capacity to address education-related legal needs in an effective and cost-efficient manner. However, because federal p&a funds remain far smaller than the unmet legal needs of individuals with disabilities, fund diversification and expansion are the board's and ceo's highest priority. In addition to the three largest p&a programs, equip for equality also administers similar programs for specific populations or to address critical issues facing the disability community, as follows: (1) individuals with traumatic brain inju”