Berrien Community Foundation Inc.

“The organization has voting members that are appointed by the board of trustees. These members elect the trustees.”

“The organization has voting members that are appointed by the board of trustees. These members elect the trustees.”

“The executive committee (board chair, vice chair, treasurer, secretary and president (ex-officio) serves as the audit committee each year for the purposes of the audit. This audit committee receives the pre-audit memo, the sas 260 (when applicable), and sas 265 letters, after the audit, the final version of the 990 in a "pdf" format each year, and other documents as appropriate. After the review of the 990, the audit committee indicates its approval by authorizing the president to sign the 990 on behalf of the corporation. S/he takes the necessary steps to ensure that the 990 is filed timely and provides an email copy to the remainder of the board before filing.”

“For officer and key employee monitoring of conflict of interests, each such individual is required to complete and sign a conflict of interest disclosure form each february. The president monitors this to ensure that each indivdual completes these forms timely. For enforcement, such individuals are to disclose any conflict at the time of discussion and vote during board meetings. By policy, they are not able to vote on matters for which they have a conflict. These are recorded in the board minutes. Additionally, the president reviews the forms on file prior to board meetings for any potentional conflicts.”

“The process of determining compensation for the president is undertaken yearly. It includes a review and approval by the executive committee, the most recent comparability data from the community foundation field (i.e. Council on foundation's salary & benefits survey) and the nonprofits field (i.e., michigan nonprofit association) for functionally comparable positions (ceo's) at similar type organizations (e.g., community foundations at same asset size and range and/or foundations.) the executive committee makes its recommendation to the board, which approves it as part of the budget deliberations each year. These are documented as part of the december board minutes.”

“The foundation makes its audited financial statements, governing documents and conflict of interest policy available on its website (www.berriencommunity.org) under the heading "about us." these are also available upon request and at www.guidestar.org.”