Ferris Foundation

“All lines left blank are not applicable to the organization. Line 13: written whistleblower policy: the organization does not have its own whistleblower policy that its governing body formally adopted. However, the organization is covered by the state of michigan whistleblower law. Line 15: the board of directors volunteer their time to the ferris foundation. Five of the directors work for and receive compensation from a related entity (ferris state university). The university board of trustees negotiates with the president on his contract. Employee wages are set by the president with consultation of the board if appropriate. Comparability data is used when setting wages for key employees. The most recent year this process was undertaken was fiscal year 2016.”

“The foundation board audit committee was provided a pdf of the form 990 to review via email before it was submitted, and it has been shared as an informational item with the full board.”

“All directors, honorary life members and committee members, and employees of the ferris foundation are to complete a conflict of interest questionnaire annually. Directors or members with a potential conflict of interest are to give full factual disclosure to the board of directors. Such directors or members shall absent themselves during the review of the matter by the board of directors and its voting on the matter, which would be reflected in the meeting minutes.”

“The bylaws, form 990 tax return, and financial statements are made available on the foundation website. Other documents, including the conflict of interest policy, articles of incorporation, and irs determination letter, are available upon request through the foundation office.”

“The return is being amended due to foreign filing disclosures that were inadvertently omitted in the initial filing of the return. The form 990 was corrected on schedule f, part i to change total investments for central america and the carribean from 11,096,232 to 12,254,896. An additional form 926 was required to be filed due to direct investment with a foreign corporation. This additional form 926 for varde dislocation fund lp is included with this amended return. Reasonable cause statement we previously filed and requested relief of penalty assessment for tax years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, and we have identified an additional form 926 that was required to be filed with the fiscal year 2021 form 990 (2020) and have prepared this form to be filed as an attachment to amended form 990 return for the applicable tax year. We are currently not under an irs civil examination or criminal investigation and we have not already been contacted by the irs about the delinquent returns. We are filing this return voluntarily to become compliant in our reporting requirements under irc 6038b. We are requesting relief under irc 6038b(c)(2) reasonable cause for the penalty assessment to not be applied for failing to timely file form 926. We are requesting relief as this failure to file was not due to willful neglect. The taxpayer is a 501(c)(3) organization with a history of making a good faith effort to timely comply with all other required returns. We have prepared and are filing all known required form 926, form 8865, and form 8865 schedule o for past years and the current year forms as required. We respectfully request you review the facts and circumstances regarding the failure to file the delinquent international returns. Reporting is required if 1) immediately after the transfer, the u.s. Person owns, directly, indirectly, or by attribution, at least 10% interest in the partnership (or corporation); or 2) the cash transferred to the partnership (or corporation) exceeds 100,000. For the most part the foundation's activity is an indirect interest in partnerships with very little ownership interest by the foundation. For the delinquent form the foundation was required to file due to the second requirement of a cash transfer of 100,000 or more. The taxpayer is a non-profit entity who is using the investment activity as a funding source for the non-profit activity and at no point was the foundation trying to willfully neglect to file the required disclosures forms. Time and care were taken during this review and preparation process for the 2020 fiscal year form 990 and several forms 926 and 8865 were attached along with a complete schedule f. There was no willful neglect in not filing this additional delinquent international information return. In order to remain in compliance, the foundation has implemented the following best practices: -review investment portfolio for any possibly direct investments in foreign corporations or foreign partnerships. -educate its staff (both on the investment side and accounting side) the need to identify any potential direct holdings in foreign corporation or foreign partnership. -maintain a schedule of all known foreign corporations or foreign partnerships, whether they are owned directly or indirectly, and monitor these entities for transfers each year. -review all schedule k-1s attachments and disclosures to determine any required transfers each year. Implementing these best practices will allow for maintaining a record of required foreign disclosure to prevent any future missed filings. We respectfully request that after reviewing the facts and circumstance surrounding this matter, you provide relief under irc 6038b(c)(2) for reasonable cause.”

“Change in split-interest agreement -9,752”