Ecological Society of America

“The organization pays a company for the services of its cfo, elizabeth biggs. Compensation for her services for the calendar 2023 year totaled $242,400.”

“The esa bylaws were amended to include the following changes: article vi section 3: nomination committee - will consist of the past president as chair, the president-elect, two (instead of three) board members, speaker of the council, and two additional members of the society nominated ( instead of appointed) by the past president and approved by the governing board. Article vi section 4: the nominations committee shall submit to the secretary (a) one candidate for each elected officer position to be filled (president-elect, vice president for finance, and/or secretary) and (b) at least one more candidate than the number of other open governing board member positions ( instead of at least two candidates for each position) to be filled. Article vi section 5: teller's committee has been eliminated. Article v section 3.4 has been eliminated.”

“The organization has approximately 8,000 dues paying members, consisting of six types of members: regular member, emeritus member, student member, developing countries member, life member and contributing member.”

“The members of the governing board are voted into office by the membership.”

“The membership approves changes to the organization's bylaws or other governing documents.”

“The committees do not keep minutes at their meetings.”

“The form 990 was prepared by the outside accountants and reviewed by the executive director and the cfo before filing. After their review, a copy is posted on a secure site allowing the board members to review the return, and subsequent to that the return is filed with the internal revenue service.”

“Annually, each governing board member and senior staff signs a conflict of interest policy statement to indicate that the coi policy has been reviewed and the person is in compliance with the policy. Conflicts of interest are handled on a case-by-case basis by the governing board, which has the responsibility to determine appropriate action with regard to the real or perceived conflict of interest.”

“The compensation for the executive director is determined by the governing board after a discussion and deliberation by the entire board. It includes the use of comparability data and the decision is documented. The last compensation review process was conducted in november-december 2023. Compensation for all senior staff is determined by the executive director and takes into account general trends in the market place as well as equity within the staff.”

“The organization's governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements are posted on its website and are also available upon request.”