Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois Inc

“The board of directors has delegated review of the form 990 to the finance committee. The organization's chief operating officer and accounting director worked closely with the outside accounting firm to prepare the return. The final form 990 was reviewed by the ceo and finance committee and discussed with the finance staff. The finance committee voted to approve the form for filing. Subsequent to its review, the finance committee reported back to the board regarding its oversight of the form 990 and a complete copy of the final form 990 was provided to the entire voting board before the return was filed.”

“The foundation maintains a conflict of interest and ethics statement as provided by the make-a-wish foundation of america for each officer, employee, board member, and volunteer. Such statements must be signed upon date of hire, election, or commencement of volunteer service, and at least annually thereafter. The signed statements are then submitted to and reviewed by the talent team if they are from volunteers, and the ceo and coo if from staff and board members. Review of the statements is monitored by the ceo and coo. The procedures for addressing any conflict of interest of which the ceo and coo 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 interests 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.”

“The executive committee of the board of directors is accountable for approving the ceo's compensation package. Consistent with the organization's philosophy and principles, the executive committee approves the annual performance goals and criteria to be used in determining merit increases and variable compensation criteria for the ceo. It also approves the incentive terms for the leadership team, which consists of the chief operating officer, chief development officer, vp of mission delivery, and vp of marketing. The executive committee is comprised solely of independent directors, none of whom have a conflict of interest with respect to the ceo's compensation package and leadership team incentive terms. The compensation committee is appointed by the executive committee and is tasked with making recommendations to the executive committee on the total compensation package for the ceo and incentive payouts for the leadership team. The compensation committee consists of at least 3 board members and a qualified independent compensation and benefits professional ("independent professional"), currently korn ferry. As support for the ceo's compensation package, comparability data is obtained from korn ferry (i.e. Total compensation paid by similarly situated organizations, both taxable and tax-exempt, for similar job responsibilities). This data is updated annually. The executive committee's written records related to compensation include: 1) the terms of the compensation arrangements; 2) a description of the comparable data relied upon by the executive committee; and 3) documentation of the compensation decisions made by the executive committee.”

“The organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements available upon request.”

“Over 16,000 wishes have been granted since inception in 1985. In the past year, the foundation fulfilled life-changing wishes for 493 children in illinois. This is lower than our pre-covid-19 pandemic average volume of 713 wishes for the fiscal years ended august 31, 2017, 2018, and 2019. For the health and safety of our vulnerable wish children and their families, travel-related wishes, which represented 83% of wishes in these three years, were restricted through end of june 2022, when u.s. Domestic travel resumed with covid precautions. Travel outside of the u.s. Continues to be restricted due to covid. The program expense ratio has been impacted by the reduced number of wishes since the onset of the pandemic in march 2020. The ratio is typically 80% in the audited financial statements. The ratio, slightly lower in form 990 because of the exclusion of donated travel services and use of facilities, is 64% this year and was 61% last year. The organization remains fully committed to equitably serving every eligible child in illinois, including conducting deeper outreach to underserved communities. Our strong medical outreach and community engagement programs, as well as staff and volunteers that work directly in the community, continue to support the organization's strong ties with individuals, community groups, hospitals, and corporations throughout illinois.”